


Hopes and Dreams

by PAMDirac



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Canon Divergence, Fluff, Friend-ship, Murder, Or is it just a sloth-burn?, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2018-10-21 02:58:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 158,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10676277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PAMDirac/pseuds/PAMDirac
Summary: My first foray into creative writing since school, the plan is for a fun, action-packed ride that doesn't ever gettoodark.What would have happened if Bellweather had an emergency backup for precisely this kind of situation? Beginning in the museum, this story will follow the trials endured and rewards earned by your favourite insufferable fox and overly enthusiastic rabbit as they pick up the pieces of a Bellweather who was slightly more prepared.





	1. Prelude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I may have been attacked by a small fluffle of plot bunnies a few months ago. That left me with a bunch of disconnected scenes that kind of developed on their own in my head. Then I found AO3 and whatever it is those plot bunnies infected me with mutated into full-on writing-itis. This isn't even fully planned out yet, but I felt like I had to get something out of my system. Enjoy (I hope) and let me know what you think!
> 
> (Tags/warning/etc will be applied as I go but the rating is an accurate anticipation of future stuff.)

Nick couldn't help his smirk as Judy called up to Bellweather

"It's called a hustle sweetheart. Boom."

The look on the tiny sheep's face was simply priceless as she dropped the gun and started backing away from the edge of the pit to the sound of heavy footsteps. As the largest of Precinct 1's available on-duty officers came into view he started to relax.

_Holy crap we did it!_

Then Bellweather's face hardened into a cruel sneer and she nodded sharply to the sheep to her left. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the ram tossed a small cannister to the mayor and began to charge at the tiger behind her other shoulder.

_Oh shit..._

It was frustrating beyond belief that he was moving as slowly as the rest of the world as he began a long, leisurely dive behind the rock to his left, pulling Judy along with him.

_Soooooooo sloooooow._

The great lumbering rhino to Bellweather's right was moving to grab her; the hippo and tiger were moving in to restrain the charging ram.

_Too slow._

Bellweather dropped the pin she'd pulled from the cannister and hurled it into the pit _just_ as the rhino grabbed her a- Well he _tried_ to grab her arm but given the size difference it worked out more like grabbing the diminutive sheep's entire torso. Judy's growing yell was loud in his ears as they landed, the cannister now only a few feet from them.

_Shoulda figured she'd have something to deal with anybody who caught her. Damn it Nick, you've really screwed this one up._

There was no time to move anywhere else; the cannister was about to hit the rock in front of them.

_Not a bad throw, sheep._

The cannister was the sole focus of his vision, the rest of the world faded and out of focus. It tumbled lazily onwards.

_This is gonna be bad._

There was a muted metallic _ding_ as it hit the rock and bounced onwards.

_Here we go._

Waiting as it sailed over them was agonising. Then all of a sudden it was past.

_Wait what?_

Time slammed back to its normal speed as the little silver-grey cylinder sailed past them _and nothing happened_. Nick started to draw a breath as a wave of noise from the police above the pit crashed down over them.

_Maybe it's bro-_

The cannister violently exploded into a cloud of deep blue fog, cutting off his half-formed though.

_Oh f-_

This time his thought was cut off but a spike of pain in his chest as he found himself flying backwards, vomiting every last scrap of air from his lungs. He landed hard on his back and would have been winded from impact if his lungs weren't already empty. That didn't stop a second stabbing pain from registering though. Though he was fighting to draw a breath against his viciously clenched abdominal muscles, and despite his spinning head, he still managed to hear Judy clearly.

"Stay away Nick! Don't you dare come any closer!"

_What?! Did she really just say that?_

He couldn't stay focused on that though as all of his mental resources were shoved back into the fight to breathe. Just as he thought he would pass out, his muscles suddenly relaxed and he gulped down a huge lungful of air. It all came blasting back out in an agonised howl as his chest _screamed_. Desperate, he took a series of shallow breaths and was relieved to find his head beginning to slow its spinning. It still hurt, but it was possible to breathe. He took a moment, then managed to lift his head slightly and look over at Judy.

_She can't possibly have said-_

Yet another thought was violently derailed as he saw Judy already fully enveloped in the blue cloud and struggling to back out of it. He could feel the blood draining from his face as took in the sight.

"Nick," she called desperately. " _Stay away!_ "

She was crawling backwards as best she could with her injured leg, futilely trying to escape the still expanding cloud. He could clearly see her struggling not to breathe in a horrible inverted parody of his own fight a moment before.

_Oh Carrots, what have you done?_

Fighting the pain in his chest, he managed to lever himself onto one elbow.

 _Stupid rabbit_ , he groused. _How the heck am I supposed to dodge a cloud?_

Judy's nose began twitching. Abruptly his sight narrowed and locked on to her face. All he could see was her muzzle, twitching ever more frantically as her body and mind fought furiously.

_I'll be inside that cloud sooner or later. May as well get her out of it before it does too much damage to her._  
_OK, plan: deep breath -_  
_That's gonna hurt moron!_  
_Shut it! This is_ all _going to hurt but I have to help her._

He pulled in the deepest breath he could manage then clamped his muzzle shut, gritting his teeth against the pain. What felt like minutes later - minutes full of agony from his chest - he was standing. He allowed his breath to hiss out as he turned to Judy, fighting the pain.

"Don't!" Judy gasped with what must have been her last bit of breath.

He managed to take a step forwards. Then her body won the war with her mind and sucked down a huge gulp of the cloud.

The effect was instantaneous: without warning she started to twitch and spasm, face contorting in pain as her rapid gasping breaths pulled more and more contaminated air into her body. Nick could only stare in horror as he forced himself towards her as fast as he could. He took another deep breath, ignoring the pain - strange how that seemed to be easier now - as he bent down to her side. Picking her up hurt like hell as bruised back and shoulder muscles joined what were probably broken ribs in their vehement protests at his movements. Turning as he lifted her out of the cloud, he found that it had already spread across most of the pit. Then he noticed it wasn't climbing. If anything, the top of the cloud was slowly sinking as it spread.

_Guess there wasn't enough to fill the entire pit in that little cannister._

Relief flooded through him as he realised that his head - and Judy's, now that he was holding her to his chest - was safely above the cloud. Lifting his head, intending to call to the police officers above, he didn't see Judy stop twitching. His heart nearly stopped as he felt it though.

_Nonononono! That's either very good or very bad. Please don't let it be bad. Please don't let it be bad._

Judy's eyes popped open just as he managed to get his own muzzle out of his line of sight. Relief began to pour into his mind once more. Then a savage _hiss_ exploded from the bunny in his arms. Nearly dropping her in shock, he didn't manage to recover his senses before her head snapped around, mouth opening. There was nothing he could do, no time to react. All he could do was yelp in renewed agony as the rabbit's ridiculously powerful jaws clamped down on his left pectoral muscle.

The world flashed white and he found himself on his knees, no longer holding a rabbit, with what seemed like every nerve in his torso slamming pain signals into his brain. He opened his mouth to gasp then nearly choked as he realised he'd inhale some of the blue cloud from here. Grimacing, he tipped his head back and breathed carefully through his nose, shuddering silently at the pain in his chest.

He could hear a confusing medley of sounds from over the rim of the pit. Then there came a rustling in the fake grass somewhere over his right shoulder. He closed his eyes, desperately trying not to think about what was happening and all too aware of how exposed his throat was.

_Gotta get up. You did it before and you can do it again, Nick. If she comes at you again now..._

The rustling of the fake grass was clearly moving around him, towards his vulnerable front.

_No. Not like this._

He couldn't take a deep breath because of his broken ribs and he couldn't muster the strength to stand. Just as the wild idea of using his own paws to cover his neck popped into his mind the rustling stopped. Then, a moment later, he could _feel_ the savage bunny leaping at him. Time slowed again and he could do nothing but wait. There was a growing pressure on his throat, restricting his already shallow breath. He struggled, fighting to keep breathing, to shake the bunny off him. The pressure kept growing relentlessly, a hint of pain appearing in the pattern of a rabbit's teeth. It was rapidly building towards its fatal conclusion. There was nothing he could do.

Abruptly his perspective shifted. He wasn't kneeling at the bottom of the pit in the museum any more with a savage rabbit in the process of ripping his throat out. He was on his back, lying on something much softer than the ground, in a dark room. There was only a moment for him to be confused by this as he realised the pressure around his throat was still there. Panicking, he began to lift his arms towards his neck, relieved to find that he could move properly again.

The pressure vanished as his arms lifted and he gulped down a huge breath. Cringing at the pain to come, it took him a moment to realise that his ribs weren't screaming at him. His paws arrived at his throat and felt some sort of cloth covering it. In the absence of any real pain and able to breathe, Nick took a moment to get his bearings, panting heavily and heart racing.

He was on a bed; the cloth around his neck must be one of the blankets. That gods-damned nightmare.

Still panting, he sat up, careful not to trap the blanket as he moved. How he'd managed to get this tangled was a complete mystery: it took him over a minute to disentangle his paws and arms. With them free, he unwrapped the blanket from his neck. His head dropped into his paws once he was done.

_Get it together Nick. That's done, it's past. Move on._

Minutes later he'd managed to stop panting, though his heart was still racing. With a quiet sigh, he reached over to the stand by the bed and unlocked his phone. 3:18am.

 _You don't need to. You shouldn't,_ he thought to himself. Stupid nightmare.

3:21am

_She said you could. If you needed to. Do I need to though?_

3:25am

Biting his lip, he made up his mind. Sliding carefully to the floor, phone in paw, he padded down the hall away from his room. Preoccupied with sliding through his contacts, he didn't notice anything else as he pushed open the first door he came to, slipping into the room as his phone began to ring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hi! Thanks for making it this far. Please let me know what you think - I've got plenty more to share if you guys like this, though it might take me a while to get it out.  
> The rest of this note is mostly about how I'm going to end up writing this and can be safely skipped if you just want to leave a comment :)
> 
> So yes, attack of the plot bunnies. That happened way back in December after watching the film for a second time. It was only a small fluffle but I think one of them might have been rabid... Anyway, the result was a collection of ideas for scenes, which grew more and more rapidly as I read more of the amazing works hosted here. This is a _huge_ problem for me because I'm one of those annoying people who questions _everything_ : I need explanations and reasons for everything that exists or happens.
> 
> So instead of writing some of the stuff down to get it out of my head, I spent about a month watching and re-watching the film, taking notes on everything from the route of the train that Judy rides into the city, to Nick's clothes and on-screen time stamps. Hell, I even measured a whole bunch of things that appeared on screen next to each other to get the relative scales right.  
> Some time spent trawling the wiki and twitter later, I had even more material to work with. As I began to collate this background information, I realised that the chronology of the film was _very_ loose, prompting me to watch it again to harvest as much relevant information as I could - did you know that the timestamps on the traffic cameras that saw Manchas get taken away don't match the scenes that follow?
> 
> I now have nearly 8000 words of notes and two spreadsheets of information. And I'm not done yet.
> 
> Why is this important? Well I was reluctant to start this - and I'm very reluctant to continue - until I'm satisfied with the background information. Not simply to avoid needing to retcon things, but also because I can't stand unanswered questions and ambiguity. The only reason I've put up this chapter now is to get some of this out of my system before I go back to my world building. Once I'm satisfied with that (hopefully not more than another week or so), I'll be able to concentrate on turning my collection of scenes and ideas into a cohesive story.
> 
> TL; DR: it'll be _at least_ a week before I begin to write more of this story and I might have to delay that to work out an actual plot.


	2. Chapter 1: A Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm baaaaaack! Sorry about the wait, though I did say it would be **at least** a week until I could work on this. Hopefully I'll be able to maintain a more regular schedule in the future. On with the show!

Finishing his call, feeling a heck of a lot better than he had going in, Nick pulled the bathroom door open and froze as he stepped back into the hall. A glowing pair of feline eyes were fixed on him; the bulk of the cat's body a simple dark mass to his recovering night vision. Tensing, he readied himself for a confrontation.

"Hey Nick," came a low whisper.

Nick _nearly_ sighed out loud as he relaxed. Not that he appreciated being eavesdropped on, but he was grateful this wasn't going to turn into something more unpleasant.

"Hey Sam," he whispered back, raising an eyebrow. "Working up the nerve to join me in there?" he asked, throwing a thumb over his shoulder at the now closed bathroom door.

A derisive (though still quiet) snort had him putting a hand over his heart and adopting a wounded look.

Shaking her head in exasperation she whispered "You're impossible!"

Before he could respond with more than a grin she spoke again. "Come on," came her lowered voice, accompanied by a tip of her head towards the other end of the hallway. He got as far as opening his mouth to protest when she pushed off the wall and grabbed his shoulder. "We need to talk, and this isn't the place to do it," she said firmly. "There are mammals trying to sleep after all."

He scowled at her. "But not you?"

She shrugged. "I'll sleep later. Like I said, we need to talk."

Nick's stomach felt like it was filling with lead as she started to lead him down the hall. Maybe this was going to turn into something unpleasant after all. Scrabbling for a way out of what was probably going to be a pretty big mess, he blurted "Can we talk tomorrow?". Wincing at the tinge of desperation in his voice he corrected himself, "I mean later. Later today when we're supposed to be up."

Sam just ignored him as they continued walking. _Two can play at that game,_ he grumbled to himself. _Overly arrogant cats._ Disgruntled, he began to plot, starting to think up pranks and ways to get back at her.

A minute later they arrived at the cafeteria. Sam steered him to a table before fetching two large glasses of water then sitting down opposite him. Just sitting there for a moment, Nick noticed she was regarding him with unexpected caution.

"Listen, Nick," she began, still speaking softly but no longer whispering. "Looking back on it, I realise that it must have looked like I was trying to listen in on your conversation."

He raised an eyebrow, not deigning to give more of a response and fully intending to return her silent treatment.

"I was actually kind of trying to do the opposite," she explained with a sigh. "I saw you leaving and got up to talk to you. Then you went into the bathroom so I was kind of stuck in the hallway, still wanting to talk but not really able to." A pause stretched between them as she waited for a response. When none was forthcoming she looked down at the table. "I'm sorry, I should have waited further down the hall."

At this, Nick's eyebrow lifted again and a small flash of surprise crossed his face. A mammals apologising to him was an incredibly rare thing. Fortunately for him, Sam was still staring at the table and didn't see it. Thinking back on his earlier conversation, he debated with himself for a moment, biting his lip as he considered his options. Hesitantly, he decided to take the plunge; he _had_ made a promise after all. Cautiously, he spoke up, "It's OK Sam. Thanks for the apology."

She looked up, taken aback at the depth of sincerity in his voice. "It was just an apology."

His ears flicked slightly as he caught it: the inflection turning the statement into a question, putting the ball back into his court. He could take it literally as a statement and move on or choose to explain. He too a moment to remind himself of the decision he'd just made before answering. "I'm a fox; a fox with a not particularly stellar background." He shrugged, ears splaying slightly. "It's just not something I'm used to."

Sam's eyes widened slightly and she nodded in sympathy. "I'm sorry," she said again. "If it makes you feel any better I wasn't able to hear much - that door is surprisingly good at blocking sound."

Nick's face fell slightly and he hunched down into his seat, tail curling around his legs. _Here it comes,_ he though sourly. He'd normally control his body better, but it was half past four in the morning, he was tired, and frankly he was too worked up to care.

Noticing his reaction, Sam's face twisted in confusion. Then she thought back on what she'd just said. Mortified, she froze, even her tail stopping its customary languorous wave. "Oh crap! Sorry sorry sorry!" she exclaimed, practically tripping over her own tongue in her haste to get the apology out. "I just realised what that must have sounded like."

Although Nick's apprehensive, rather defeated posture didn't really change, his ears perked slightly, encouraging her to carry on her attempt at salvaging the mess she'd made. "Ugh, I blame still being half asleep," she griped. She sighed to give herself a moment to frame her next sentence. "You know what it's like when you walk into a crowded place, like a train station or something?" Not really expecting an answer she barrelled on, determined to fix her mistake. "All you can hear is that kind of hum." She waved a paw in frustration. "I can't really describe it properly - it's that noise that you just _know_ is the sound of mammals talking."

Relaxing slightly, Nick risked looking back into her eyes, though still not straightening himself.

"That's all I really got," Sam continued more quickly, returning his steady gaze. "It was obvious that you were talking but I promise I didn't catch a single complete word." Biting her lip, she admitted, "Yes I should have moved further away, but I was kind of worried about you and wanted to be able to get to you quickly if something happened." Her voice grew quieter as she spoke from a mixture of embarrassment and awkwardness.

Surprised, it took Nick a moment to find his tongue. "Wait," he paused, blinking. "Are you saying you were worried that I'm suicidal?"

Throwing her paws in the air, Sam all but growled, "I don't know, Gods dammit. I'm not a shrink." She huffed. "All I know is that you're pretty solitary, even by a cat's standards. You don't seem to have any real friends here," she held up a paw and shot him a look as he opened his mouth to argue. "Yes, you joke around with everyone and you don't act sad and withdrawn, but that's kind of the point: _everyone_ gets pretty much the same treatment." Another pause and another sigh punctuated her speech. "Look, I don't want to make you uncomfortable, or pry, or push you into doing anything, but that sort of solitude gets to mammals. If you need to talk, some of us here would be happy to listen, you know."

Nick had slowly relaxed while she spoke - tail uncurling and sitting back. That on its own was something the old Nick would never have done; after all, it showed that what she was saying was getting to him, albeit in a positive way. "Look, Sam," he started hesitantly. "I... Thanks for the concern - that's also something I'm not used to by the way," he added with a small, sad grin. "But I promise you don't have to worry about me." Pausing, he again reminded himself of his decision. Taking a breath he offered, "Yes I'm pretty solitary but I do have friends, though admittedly not really here. I promise I'm not suicidal - that phone call was to one of those friends, not some hotline.

"I... It's..." he stopped, jaw opening and closing as he tried to work out how to continue. Damn, being honest was hard. "Look," he eventually managed, "I've gotten used to being pretty closed and guarded over the years." He shrugged, a little embarrassed. "Just kind of the way my life went, I guess." Suddenly grateful for the water, he sat back and took a long drink.

Sam pondered him, tail flicking, as she sat back as well. After a minute she broke the silence that had settled over them. "Like I said, I don't want to pry or push you into anything," she began cautiously. "And I'm sorry for assuming that because you didn't have friends here you didn't have any." The tod nodded slowly at her words. "I just know that you haven't had the easiest start here and if you need someone to talk to," she chewed her lip for a moment before pushing on, unsure how he'd take this. "Or if you want a friend -" He glanced up sharply at that, ears flicking fully upright and forward. She hesitated for a moment at the strength of his reaction before ploughing on. "I guess - and this is the first time I've ever had to say this so explicitly - I'm kind of volunteering." She finished with a small chuckle, a little embarrassed.

A small, though genuine smile settled on Nick's muzzle at her words. "You know," he began slowly, "I think that's the first time anyone's ever _volunteered_ to be a friend to another mammal." He chuckled. "Admittedly I'm not an expert but I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to work like that." Letting the Lynx stew for a moment as he worked himself up for what he was going to say next, he had to hold back a snigger at how easy she was to read. Admittedly nothing like Judy had been, but then that crazy rabbit didn't really try to hide anything from anybody.

"But you know what," he began, giving Sam a full blast of his smuggest hustler grin, "if you're offering, then I think I might just take you up on it." She looked at him in surprise. "Fair warning though, I'm probably not going to be great at it - the whole 'used to being solitary and guarded' thing."

Sam grinned back, responding to the dry humour in his voice. "Hey, I've gotten you to agree to try this whole 'friendship' deal at least," she said, making air quotes as she spoke. "I guess I'll just have to work at getting more out of you." Allowing herself to become more serious again, she added, "But if I'm going too far, if I'm pushing you or making you uncomfortable, just tell me and I'll shut the hell up."

Nick nodded, grateful that she was willing to make that concession. "Thanks. I'm going to -" he cut himself off with a shake of his head and a snap of his jaw. "I _am_ trying to be more open." Looking at her, tail drooping slightly, he admitted, "It's something I'm going to have to get used to both here and once we get back out on the streets; pretty difficult to work with someone, especially in a job like this, if you don't trust them."

Sam nodded, raising her glass. "To working stuff out as we go along," she suggested.

Clinking his glass to hers, he noticed that his tail had started a slow, subtle wag. Taking a breath, he decided not to clamp down on the motion. It was hard, giving a mammal a chance to see even part of the real him, but just like his previous reactions, he was too tired and worked up to care. _Also I guess I'm kind of supposed to show the real me to my friends, right?_ As they drank, he reflected on just how much he had changed in the last few months. It seemed impossible, really, that he was the same fox as the jaded, cynical hustler that he'd been just a short while ago.

They sat in silence for a moment after they'd had their drinks before Sam spoke up. "Soooo." It was slow and drawn out, giving him plenty of time to but in if he wanted to. Taking a breath and grimacing slightly, he motioned for her to continue. She paused, not really having expected him to let her go further right now. "Bad dream, huh?" she asked cautiously.

Nick winced, his ears splaying out in discomfort and embarrassment. _Yeah. This is why you don't do the whole honest and friends thing, dumb-ass._

Taking note of his reaction, Sam immediately back-pedalled. "Ah, bad place to start I guess." She shook her head. "Sorry, but it's difficult to know what's OK and what isn't without knowing you better."

Taking a long, slow, deep breath, Nick gritted his teeth. "Don't be," he said quietly, shaking his own head in a simple refusal of her apology. "If I'm gonna do this, then I'm gonna do it properly. I'm just... not used to allowing myself to be vulnerable to others." Trailing off in discomfort, he gathered himself before continuing. "I want to make the effort here." He swallowed thickly before resuming, "It... just might take me a while to do it."

Sam nodded in understanding, appreciating his candour and honestly a little surprised at how much he was willing to do. Just a couple of days ago she'd tried to approach him in a similar manner and gotten absolutely nowhere. He was clearly still very uncomfortable - the stiff set of his shoulders and rigid tail making that abundantly clear - but he was willing to try opening up. That phone call was the only thing she could think of that might have caused this change in his behaviour and she found herself wondering who he'd been talking to that could have prompted such a shift.

"So yeah, that dream," Nick began, softly and hesitantly. "You know about the Nighthowler conspiracy of course?"

Though it was almost certainly a rhetorical question Sam nodded anyway. That whole shitstorm was all that anybody, especially predators, had been talking about from the moment the ZPD released some basic information about the plot. As Bellweather went to trial and more information became public knowledge things had escalated further. A lot of cops had been pulled from regular investigative and patrol work to help manage crowds at protests and rallies. Thankfully it was starting to die down now, but she got the feeling the echoes of that particular conspiracy would continue to be felt for quite a while to come.

"I know quite a lot has been released publicly, thanks to Bellweather's trial," Nick explained, "but I'm not sure exactly how much."

Unable to help herself Sam blurted out, "What? Haven't you been following it?" The idea was just _off_. How could anyone not have been at least keeping an eye on that issue of all things?

Sighing, Nick shook his head. "You'll understand why in a bit." He paused, looking at her for a moment. She stayed quiet though, letting him lead the conversation.

"So, you know it was Judy -" Sam raised an eyebrow at casual use of the cop's first name. That implied a level of familiarity she would never have suspected. _Familiarity or_ fascination _..._

"Officer Hopps," Nick corrected himself without noticing her reaction, "who found out it was Bellweather and got the evidence to nail her." He looked up, locking eyes with her. "Did you know there was another mammal helping her?"

There was something in his voice that Sam couldn't quite place. Hope? Trepidation? Simple curiosity? Whatever it was, she nodded. "Yeah, the court's been protecting their identity. All I know is that there was someone helping her and they worked together to get the evidence that put her away."

Nick nodded. "And do you know how they managed to get that evidence?"

"Bits and pieces," she replied. "There was something about finding a drug lab on an old subway car." She grinned. "Gotta say, that rabbit seems to have a talent for causing chaos."

Nick snorted. "Yeah, crashing and blowing up a train sure counts as chaos." He sighed again. This was it, no turning back now. "Ok, so that's the basic stuff that's already public. The big reveal here - and I'm trusting you to keep this to yourself, at least for now," he cautioned with a raised finger, " - is that her accomplice was a fox." He sat back, playing with the glass on the table in front of him as he went stiff again, waiting for Sam's judgement.

For her part, Sam was examining what he'd just said, trying to work out if the conclusion she was starting to suspect could possibly be what he meant to imply. Looking at him, sitting there as if he expected to be laughed at or torn down, she decided to take a chance. Speaking softly, she gently asked "Was it you?"

Nick's breath caught in his throat. Had she really just said that? Could she possibly believe, without any further hints or prompting, that _he_ , a lowlife fox, had been helpful in such an important situation? Swallowing thickly, he nodded slowly. Sam was quiet for a moment, but Nick noticed that her face didn't harbour any disbelief. Her expression was one of curiosity, and cautious encouragement.

"That's amazing, Nick," she started. "I -"

Nick felt his stomach clench. _Would never have expected a fox to get involved unless he was getting paid damn well,_ he completed mentally.

"- wouldn't have pegged a rabbit making friends with a fox," Sam finished, noting the surprised flick of his ears. That she assumed they were friends and not just working together did something odd to Nick's stomach and heart both. "I'm glad you were able to help her, and I bet she's glad to have been able to get help from you."

Nick allowed his astonishment to show clearly, not trying to hide it in the slightest.

Sam just smiled gently. "I'm not here to judge, Nick," she soothed. "That's not what friends do." Pausing for a moment to allow him to re-gather himself, she gestured for him to continue.

Almost dazed, and not quite believing this was really happening - and so smoothly - Nick took a shaky breath before speaking again. "Thanks, Sam." Taking a deep breath and re-ordering his scattered thoughts, he continued, noting that his feeling of trepidation was a lot weaker than it had been just moments ago - maybe opening up had its upsides? "So yeah: me, Nick Wilde, random fox that Officer Hopps met by chance on the job, ended up roped into helping her with the Missing Mammals case." Not wanting to give too much about his past away - after all it didn't exactly reflect well on him - he was deliberately light on detail here.

Sam just nodded, accepting his excessively terse story about meeting Hopps. There was obviously more to it than that but if he wasn't willing to share then she wasn't going to demand. She made a note to look up what she could about the original Missing Mammals case though - she didn't remember a fox being involved in that one.

His next sentence came with a pained grimace. "Then that damn press conference happened and the world went to hell in a handbasket."

Sam winced too, trying not to growl at the memory. That had been almost as much of a trainwreck as the Nighthowler mess itself. Life had gotten pretty rough for a while there. If you had sharp teeth and claws it had been best to simply not be out in public.

Nodding at her reaction, all Nick could offer was a simple, "Yeah..." Pausing at the painful memory, he eventually resumed speaking. "Anyway, that happened, and I may have reacted badly in front of her."

It was Sam's turn to nod. He was probably understating things but whatever had actually happened, it had probably been an apt reaction.

Looking down at the glass in his paws, Nick didn't notice or respond to her motion. "She was pretty cut up about what she'd done - though I didn't see or appreciate it at the time - and struggled on with her job for a couple of weeks." He took a deep breath before continuing in a softer tone. "And then she resigned."

Sam perked her ears in surprise. _Hopps resigned? That's news._

"She turned in her badge out of guilt. Being a cop had been her dream for a decade and a half. She _finally_ made it, despite some pretty serious stumbling blocks..." Trailing off, he sighed and shook his head. "Poor rabbit was so broken by an honest mistake that she gave up a dream she'd held onto through hell and high water, left the city and went back to her parents' farm."

Taking note of Sam's raised eyebrow and decidedly sceptical look, he raised a paw from his glass in a limp one-armed shrug. "I can't say I took it so calmly at the time," he admitted. "But looking back, I can't really blame her for listening to her parents as a kit, or for panicking at her first ever press conference."

Sam considered that. She still felt that the rabbit's screw-up warranted a lot more anger than Nick seemed to be expressing. She was also startled by the familiarity Nick was displaying with Hopps. Knowing about her resignation? Sure, that could be chalked up to friends in the ZPD or a chance bit of gossip. But the stuff about her kithood dreams? The whole creepy fascination angle was looking weaker as well, unless he was enough of a creep to break into her parents' home or something. That left genuine familiarity. Chewing on her lip for a moment, Sam pondered just how well Nick knew the rabbit. Eventually deciding to accept what Nick was saying, she slowly nodded.

"Okaaaay, let's say I buy that," she began cautiously. "How does she go from resigned and on a farm to busting Bellweather?"

Nodding, having expected the question, Nick thought carefully about how to phrase things going forward. He still didn't want to give too much away; some of it got kind of personal after all. "Long story short, she figured out the connection between the Night Howlers and the savage cases, came back to the city and managed to track me down." Shrugging, he tried to brush off his next sentence as totally insignificant and mundane. "She apologised for that mess of a press conference, admitted she was totally in the wrong and asked for my help in fixing her mess."

Sam's curiosity was piqued. There was _definitely_ a heck of a lot more to _that_ story than what Nick had just given her.

Idly scratching at the table with one claw, Nick continued his story. "So we teamed up, found someone who'd been stealing night howler bulbs and got a location. That led us to the lab on the train and of course," he chuckled, "that crazy rabbit decided to take 'all' of the evidence to the ZPD."

"Sooo, you guys what, just stole? Hijacked? The entire drug lab?" Sam could hardly believe it, her voice clearly incredulous.

"Yuuuup." Nick smirked, popping the 'p'. "Hopps kicked one of the sheep right out the back door, locked us in, then told me her plan and _then_ tried to get the train going."

Shaking her head in bewilderment, Sam was at a loss for words for a moment. "Damn. She really is mad isn't she?"

The amusement clear in his voice, Nick was having a hard time swallowing his grin. "Don't say that to her face, you probably won't survive."

"Duly noted," Sam deadpanned. When the heck was she ever going to meet that rabbit? _Won't survive? Really? She can't possibly be that tough. I mean, I'm not sure I could put her out of a fight by stepping on her, but she is just a little bunny._

"Anyway, that's how we ended up with the train. A tussle with some sheep later and we were busy crashing it into the Natural History Museum station, at which point it very rudely exploded."

Sam snorted with amusement at his description. He sounded genuinely offended that the train had blown up, as if it had been a deliberate and calculated move to annoy them.

"We managed to get some of the evidence out though, fortunately." Nick's voice was rapidly losing it's edge of amusement. Sam noticed he'd stopped scratching the table and was gripping his glass with both paws again. "Then we ran into Bellweather in the museum. She tried to make like she was a good guy but Judy realised that there was no way she should have known we were there." Nick licked his lips, not really wanting to continue. "She got injured running from Bellweather and her goons but we managed to find a spot to hunker down for a moment.

"Bellweather tried talking us down but neither of us were buying it. Eventually we had to make a break for it, but with me half-carrying an injured rabbit who seemed to be made entirely of muscle, which is not particularly light, we didn't get far." Noticing, but not really caring, Nick found himself gripping his glass more and more tightly as he went on. "We got knocked into the display pit in the main hall by one of Bellweather's goons. Judy came out with that classic line: 'are you gonna kill me?' and Bellweather responded just like you'd expect with a denial. Trouble was, her denial ended with 'he will'. Then the bloody sweater _shot me with a night howler pellet_."

Sam gasped. _How the_ hell _did Hopps survive that? Injured and trapped in a pit with a savage fox? And to get a confession from Bellweather on top of that?!_

Nick nodded. "Judy didn't have anywhere to go: she was backed up against the edge of the pit but talking to Bellweather the whole time, getting her to talk back."

Sam's eyes widened at that. _Holy shit! That's just something else. Who the hell keeps their head in that kind of situation?_

"Bellweather just about finished confessing when I pounced on Judy." The delivery was flat, emotionless, but Sam could see Nick fighting to control himself. Was he still feeling guilty? How badly had he hurt her?

Looking back into her eyes, Nick continued in a whisper. "Judy screamed. That's not a sound I ever want to hear again." Dropping his voice further until it was barely audible, he carried on, still staring into Sam's eyes and still clearly exercising enormous self-control. "Then I backed off. And Judy gave her best kit-ish, over-dramatic and overacted 'blood, blood, blood, aaaand death'."

Sam froze, trying desperately to parse what she'd just heard. Her jaw started to open. Then Nick burst out in a bizarre mix of snorting laughter and cackling.

"OH. MY. GODS!" he managed between heaves. "Your face! That was priceless."

Dawning horror gripped Sam. "You set me up! UGH. Damn you Wilde, not cool!" she snarled as he laughed, with no sign of stopping.

"Oh, I'm so not sorry," he sniggered, the more explosive laughter dying away, even as his tail refused to stop its exuberant wagging.

Shaking her head and huffing in frustration, Sam seriously considered punching the smug fox. "I hate you Wilde."

He just smirked. "Oh come on, that's how we got Bellweather's confession. Can you blame me for wanting to see if we just got lucky of if the set-up was actually that good?"

"Fine, fine. You got me," she conceded. "It was pretty convincing." Taking a moment to try to tamp down her irritation, she asked "So I'm guessing you weren't _actually_ shot with a night howler pellet?"

Shaking his head, Nick explained, "Nah. I had the serum pellet in my pocket. Judy came back to the city in her parents' farm truck, which had a crate of blueberries in it." He shrugged nonchalantly. "I like them so I pocketed a few. Turns out they fit into the serum gun pretty much perfectly and in the low light it wasn't easy to spot the difference unless you looked closely."

Dropping her head into her paws, Sam could only mutter, "Remind me to _never_ piss you off. I get the distinct feeling that your revenge pranks would absolutely _wreck_ me." Looking up, seeing that same overly smug smirk he'd worn a moment ago, she growled at him. The intimidating sound just bounced right of that damn grin though.

Trying to put her irritation out of her mind, and doing her best to resist the growing urge to hit the fox, Sam eventually managed to ask what she knew would be an uncomfortable question for him. She didn't want to ruin the mood that much - they seemed to be bonding pretty well after all - but she sort of had to ask. _Plus, it might help knock some of the smug off his face._

"So your dream. I'm guessing things don't work out according to plan and you do actually get hit with a night howler?" In the time it took her to say the word 'dream', Nick's face fell, his ears flattened so far she could barely see them, his tail drooped and his shoulders slumped. So dramatic was the change, she almost didn't recognise the fox before her. She winced, feeling a bit guilty at so comprehensively trashing the mood. The turn-around in his expression was the worst though; she felt utterly horrible at causing his mood to take such a huge nosedive.

Opening her mouth to apologise, she closed it as Nick lifted a paw and shook his head. "As much as it sucks, this is where we've been heading for a while." He sighed, looking firmly down at the table. "There won't have been much point in telling you everything I have so far if I don't do this."

Sam shook her head vehemently. "You don't _have_ to do anything Nick." She leaned over the table to place a paw on his shoulder as she spoke. "I'm grateful for what you've already shared, for letting me start to get to know you. You're not obligated to answer my questions just because you agreed to being friends."

Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, Nick looked up into Sam's eyes, noting the honesty and guilt they contained. She really was offering him an out; he seriously considered taking it, then remembered his phone call and promise. _I've come this far..._

"Thanks, Sam," he began, doing his best to control his voice as apprehension, guilt, gratitude and raw fear at what he was about to do warred for dominance of his mind. Sure, he'd revealed a lot just now, but he was about to venture inside his own head. Everything so far had been physical stuff that other mammals or security cameras could have told Sam. Sure, some of it would have taken a heck of a lot of digging, and maybe some connections, but all of that information still already existed out there in the world. This was something else entirely and he honestly wasn't sure if he was ready for it.

Hesitating, he again considered backing out. Taking a another deep breath, he focused on his memory of the phone call, of the voice of the mammal he'd been speaking to, of the advice they'd offered, and of the promise he'd made. He could do this. He probably _should_ do this. He was _going_ to do this. Any moment now.

Sam waited patiently as Nick fought with himself; his gaze sinking back to the table. She didn't know whether he'd follow through on his answer but judging by the subtle twitches of his ears and facial muscles he was having a hard time deciding either way.

Eventually Nick spoke up, his voice a little hoarse, as though he needed to clear his throat. "No, I don't get hit with the serum."

Sam stiffened, ears perking, knowing that she was the only mammal that had heard what Nick was about to say (unless he shared this during his phone call). Squeezing Nick's shoulder in a show of support and gentle encouragement, she stayed quiet, giving him as much time as he needed. Despite being pretty uncomfortable by proxy, she couldn't help her curiosity. _If it wasn't the serum, then what made this dream such a big deal? Unless he dreamed he somehow went savage anyway?_

Not raising his eyes, Nick swallowed thickly before speaking again. "The thing is, after we got the confession from Bellweather - who'd called the ZPD herself to report a 'savage fox attacking Officer Hopps in the Natural History Museum' -" Nick would normally have smirked at that sound a comeuppance: a criminal calling the ZPD out to hear her own confession was a pretty sweet level of irony after all. What he was about to say totally and utterly squashed that impulse though. "- after that, just as a whole bunch of cops arrived, Bellweather pulled out her backup plan."

"Wait, are we talking about your dream here, or what actually happened?"

"Both." Nick shivered. "That's the really disturbing thing, just how close the dream was to what actually happened." Taking a moment to collect himself somewhat, he proceeded to recount the events of the dream as clinically as possible. His deadpan delivery and refusal to elaborate on the details of what was going on hid his roiling emotions pretty well, he thought.

As he finished Sam shuddered. "Shit man, I... Just... Wow." Taking a deep breath and blowing it out loudly and slowly to give herself a moment, she regarded the slumped fox before her. "Sheesh man, that's some pretty heavy..." Trailing off she paused again as she searched for the right words. "That's just - weird's not the right word, dammit - _wrong_? _off_?" She shivered again, genuinely disturbed. "I mean, what, broken ribs, bitten by a savage mammal then getting your throat ripped out by a gods-damned _bunny_!" She shook her head, tail flicking in distress. "Can't say I'd be looking forward to ever sleeping again if I knew that was something I could dream about."

Trying to put on a brave face - though it was rather moot when carefully examining a table - Nick shrugged. "It's not _that_ bad. I mean yeah, it's pretty rough, but I'm not going to give up sleep or anything because of it."

Despite herself, Sam chortled quietly. That fox had a way with humour. Silence descended between them for a while as they both pondered where to steer the conversation. Eventually Sam offered, "So obviously it didn't go down like that, you know, since you're sitting here talking to me..."

Nodding with another shrug, his ears still pinned back, Nick quietly responded. "No, it didn't go down exactly like that." Nerving himself up, he looked up at Sam for the first time in minutes. "It went _almost_ exactly like that though." Sam stiffened in surprise and horror. "That dream may as well have been memory up until the last few seconds."

The blood drained from Sam's face, her jaw dropping in astonishment. "Are... Are you serious?" she asked shakily.

Nick's only reply was a small but deliberate nod. It was small enough that she might have been able to interpret it as just a random motion of his head, or perhaps tiredness making his head tip forwards. There was no mistaking the considered intent behind the motion though.

"Holy... Nick, that's a lot to take in." She worked her jaw for a moment. "So Hopps really was exposed to what, some kind of night howler gas? She really went savage?" Another slow nod. Sam licked her lips nervously before slowly, carefully, continuing. "The broken ribs? The bite?"

One more nod. Then the fox spoke. "As far as her working her way towards my front through the fake grass."

By this point Sam's breathing had gone very shallow and very rapid. "Holy crap. You really do mean it was memory up to the last few seconds, don't you?" Almost full-on panting as Nick didn't correct her, Sam gulped. "Gods I wish we had something stronger than water to drink around here."

She didn't notice Nick's soft snort. The old Nick would have been heartily agreeing with her - would probably have figured out a way to get booze in, in fact. The new Nick was reminding himself that getting hammered wouldn't fix this. His snort came as he again reflected on how much he'd changed recently.

Tapping Sam's glass with his own, noticing she was still a little pale under her fur, he tried to lift the mood. "Look, you don't need to worry about this so much. I'm the one with this crap rattling around in my head."

"Doesn't it bother you?" she asked, frowning. "Of course it does, you went and made a phone call at half three in the morning," she charged on without waiting for a reply. Sighing, she clasped her paws. "I'm just... Nights must be real fun, huh?"

Nick shook his head. "Nah, it's not so bad. I'm tired enough most days that I full-on pass out when I hit that bed. It's only hit me like this tonight because we had such an easy time today."

Sam raised an eyebrow as her tail twitched. _Easy? You've got one messed-up world view, fox._

Nick waved away her unspoken objection. " _Physically_ an easy day. I mean let's face it, it may have made most of us pretty sleepy but I don't think it left anyone 'falling into bed' exhausted."

About to reply, Sam jumped as the door swung open and another mammal stepped into the cafeteria.

"Wilde? Carter? What the hell are you two doing?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh. So. Much. Talking. Jeez, this was a hard one to write. I know lots of dialogue is not usually a good way to go and I'm just hoping it came off OK. For those thinking that Nick is acting waaaaaay OOC, there's a few very good reasons why he's opening up, which we'll get to see soon, I promise.
> 
> I'm kind of hopeful that I'll be able to write a little more regularly going forward, but between a full-time job, teaching programming after hours and what passes for a social life I can't promise anything. Except that I won't abandon this. Seriously, never going to happen. My ridiculously thorough notes and planning would all have been for nothing if I did that! Speaking of which, I wonder if any other author on this site has a full timeline of the development of civilisation in the world of Zootopia? And if any of those prompted sketched maps of everything from ocean currents to tectonic plates and their motions? 
> 
> My attention to detail is honestly _that_ thorough: I can justify every earthquake that happens and every volcano that exists. And I have an explanation for how Tundra Town receives a steady supply of cold water, some of which is used to cool the nuclear reactors that power the Sahara Square heaters (among other bit bits of infrastructure). And some of that evaporating water gets ducted out to the Rainforest District...


	3. Chapter 2: The Burdens of Command

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> O. M. Goodness. I am so sorry about how long it's taken to get this out. I'm not going to take any more time here, further apologies and explanations in the end notes. I hope this was worth at least some of the wait.

"Mason?"

It was no easy thing to get to Chief of ZPD Precinct One, Mason Bogo. He'd stood firm and stoic throughout his career, never much more than batting an eyelash at the worst the dregs of the city could throw at him. He'd faced down everything from some pretty nasty criminals to being run over by accident; from slugging through mountains of paperwork to nearly losing an eye and having his partner at the time retire; from simple crowd control to being responsible for an entire precinct. It had all bounced off, not even smudging his horns. Which of course was why his wife was asking what was wrong. He paused at her sleepy inquiry, nearly at the door. Gently shaking his head, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Don't you play the big tough bull with me," she scolded before he could get a single word out. Clearly she was more awake that she'd sounded. "You've been sleeping worse and worse for weeks. Let me in."

Sighing heavily, his mind made up, Mason slowly responded. His voice low and gentle. "Not now. We will, I promise, but it's too early for this and you need to rest."

"I _need_ you to be OK," came her quick retort.

Turning to face her, Mason looked right into her eyes. "We _will_ talk. Tonight, when I get home. But it's early and you need to get back to sleep." He held up a hoof to cut her off before she could say anything else, knowing exactly what was coming. "I would, but I'm not going to be able to sleep any more right now. I'll grab myself an early breakfast and get ready as slowly as I can." There was a hint of dry humour in his voice at the end. No matter how long he took, he'd still be _very_ early.

"Fine," Melissa huffed, "But don't you dare try to brush this off again tonight!" Laying back down, she grabbed the duvet and pulled it along as she rolled over.

She wasn't really angry of course - though she sure as hell would be if he _did_ try to avoid the conversation later - but Mason still blew her a kiss and stage whispered, "I love you," as he left the room.

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Walking to work, Mason reflected on recent events. He knew full well what had been bothering him, why he'd had trouble sleeping. _My fault._ It wasn't the first time that particular thought had crossed his mind and he suppressed a shudder as it did. Pushing that aside, he tried to find something else to explain his mood. He couldn't remember a time when he'd ever felt like this before: not actually _dreading_ work, but close.

He enjoyed his job, he really did. But it was getting harder and harder to remain enthusiastic (behind his mask of professionalism) as every day greeted him with more bad news. This was the first time he'd shown up to work early like this. He'd arrived early before of course: when there was a big case in progress, or if he wanted to check for latecomers to the 0700 duty team shift. But never before had he shown up early because he couldn't sleep.

Nearly at the city's central plaza, he sighed mentally. _I do_ not _want to start with paperwork at this time in the morning. Maybe I should go to the gym?_ He almost immediately discounted the thought; in his state he'd get no benefit from it and would probably just injure himself to boot. Deciding to grab a coffee, he determined to head for the break room when he arrived.

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"Sir." Fangmeyer's greeting was icier than a Tundra Town blizzard. She wasn't quite glaring at him as she sipped a protein shake, but it was close.

He grimaced internally at the tone, knowing - well strongly suspecting at least - exactly what it was about. Things had been fairly bad for predators for a while now. _My fault,_ flashed through his mind again. "Morning Fangmeyer," he grumbled as he pushed the intrusive thought aside and headed for the coffee maker. As he stood there, waiting for the sputtering, clanking excuse of a machine to do its damn job, he could feel the tigress's piercing gaze boring into his back.

It didn't let up until she finished her drink and moved over to the sink. He didn't turn around, still waiting for his coffee to finish being beaten into existence, as she rinsed the dregs of the shake from her water bottle and placed it into the small dish washer next to the sink. The coffee maker managed to finish sputtering out his drink just as she shoved the door to the hallway open and strode off towards the locker rooms.

Exhaling heavily through his nose in a closed-mouth sigh of relief, Mason picked up his coffee, turning to go. He froze. _Why the hell was I relieved? I shouldn't have been glad to see one of my officers leave the room I'm in._ Swallowing thickly, he reviewed their interaction, such as it had been. There was _nothing_ , nothing at all, except... _Her claws._ A cold shiver ran down his spine as he realised what had unsettled him.

The tigress had been wearing her usual workout gear, which did nothing to hide the lean, powerful muscle that packed her body. That on it's own wasn't nearly enough to disturb him - he was pretty sure he was stronger and very aware that the question of just how much stronger was a constant source of speculative gossip. No, it was the fact that her claws hadn't been fully sheathed that was bothering him. Aside from opportunistic crocodiles, the big cats were the closest thing that Buffalo had to natural predators. Even though it was historically mostly concerted efforts by entire prides of lions, Fangmeyer's anger, intimidatingly _predatory_ body and stance, and her inability to fully sheathe the deadly weapons in her paws was genuinely frightening. The thought of her giving in to her anger, of how much damage she could do - _to me_ \- if she snapped was utterly chilling.

Shaking himself out of his introspection, Mason took a deep breath and headed towards the lobby. Massaging the bridge of his nose, he pondered how to deal with this latest issue.

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Dropping into his chair and allowing his head to flop into his hooves, Mason groaned. _Well that went well._ He'd just finished the morning briefing and a tiny corner of his mind was idly wondering just how much more he could take. Fangmeyer had managed to tone it down a little since their run-in in the break room earlier, but she'd sat at the back, arms firmly crossed and scowling as he delivered the latest bit of bad news. His other predator officers were upset, angry, despondent and scared; his prey officers were unsettled, shifting and muttered nervously, some more than others. All as was now unfortunately usual.

Massaging his face, he sat up with a sigh. _You can do this. You've pulled through all kinds of crap in your life and you're not going to give up now, damn it!_ Nodding to himself, he grabbed the first report from the waiting pile and began to read.

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Lunchtime was rolling around and he was just starting to wonder which cafe he should grab a bite from when he was startled from his thoughts by the blaring of sirens. From the sounds of it, at least two ZPD cruisers were roaring past his windows. He waited a beat, then began to let some of the tension leave his body. If the intercom hadn't-

"Chief!"

Rolling his eyes, Mason suppressed a groan. Clawhauser might have been easily distracted most of the time in his public-facing role at the front desk, but he was also a staggeringly efficient dispatcher and was alarmingly good at switching from cheerful, helpful, and bubbly to serious and collected when it was needed. Not having him at the front desk was just _wrong_ , though hopefully it wouldn't be too much longer.

Poking at the irritatingly small buttons on his desk phone, he growled out a single word. "Yes?"

"Sir, we have another -"

 _Of course, more bad news,_ he grumbled to himself as the temporary dispatch officer informed him of the call, nearly a minute after it had come in. _Clawhauser would never have taken so long to get this to me, even if it is bad news._

Massaging the bridge of his nose again, he realised that the phone was silent. Jabbing a digit down, he ground out a quick "Thank you" before sighing and leaning back in his chair. He obviously needed to do _something_ about this gods-damned mess since it showed no signs of improving on its own and nobody else was stepping up. _Okay Mason, how are you going to handle this?_

After floundering for a minute, he decided to forget the big picture and concentrate on dealing with the immediate and obvious symptoms. Of course, this was just sticking a band-aid over what seemed like a severed limb, but he had to start somewhere. Maybe if he managed to get enough band-aids on it would slow the bleeding enough that he'd actually be able to fix the underlying problems. The stand-out issues from this morning were clearly Clawhauser and the front desk/dispatch situation, his officers' varied and divisive reactions in the briefing, and Fangmeyer.

There was nothing he could do about Clawhauser for now, so that could be crossed off the list. The reactions in the briefing though, that was something he could fix. Nodding determinately to himself, he began to comb his mind for a way to improve that situation.

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Having gone out to grab himself a (later than planned) sandwich, Mason was struck hard by the bleak, melancholy air that permeated the lobby as he re-entered the precinct. It seemed that everyone was just primed and waiting to hear more bad news. He weathered a wave of guilt as _My fault!_ flashed through his mind again at the sight of his dispirited officers going about their duties. He'd realised that there wasn't anything he could do about the briefings unless he could start giving out good news again.

 _Any tiny scrap of positive news would go down a storm, I'm sure. The question is where to get some, or how to make some..._ He was interrupted from his musing as four officers pushed open the main doors behind him. Glancing over his shoulder at the commotion, he had to work to suppress a wince at Fangmeyer's stone-cold serial killer glare, even though it wasn't directed at him. On the other hoof, the poor cuffed hippo that she was shoving along looked like he was a tap on the shoulder from wetting himself. _Of course it's her squad,_ he thought wearily as he made a beeline for the stairs. Not that he was trying to escape; he just wanted to a chance to eat -

"Chief."

Pausing, _pausing_ , not freezing, at the icy utterance, Mason turned to the tigress. "Yes, Fangmeyer?" he asked, his voice steady.

Glancing at him as continued pushing the stumbling hippo along, she spoke in a flat tone that nearly made him shiver again. "I need to talk to you. Could I stop by your office once we book this lot in?"

 _Craaaaap. Is she going to call me out for this morning? Did I do something to give away how uneasy I was? Was there- STOP IT._ Mentally barking at himself for getting worked up like that, he nodded carefully. "I can make time." _Good. Calm, professional. And I made it sound like she's important enough to put off other things. That's good._

"Thank you, chief."

As he turned back to the stairs and began climbing, Mason could have sworn that her voice had lost a touch of its frigidity.

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Just as he finished his simple lunch there was a sharp rap at the door. "Come!" he called out, hurriedly shoving the sandwich wrapping into the bin under his desk and grabbing a stack of reports. Fangmeyer pushed the door open and slowly walked in. Mason took a moment to examine her. The fearsome predator from this morning was gone; the cold arresting officer from earlier too. She looked tired - as tired as he felt - and beaten down. Her ears were back, shoulders slumped and tail limp, only just held off the ground. There was no sign of anger or aggression. Guilt flooded him for his reaction that morning.

"Sir," came a terse acknowledgement as she saluted.

Nodding towards one of the chairs in front of his desk, Mason didn't bother to return the salute. "Sit down, Fangmeyer." Noting her hesitance as he hadn't returned her salute he rolled his eyes. "You're senior enough and we're both tired enough to forget the formality for now. Sit."

She stared at him for a moment, evaluating, before nodding and walking over to his desk. Pulling a chair out, she slumped down into it with a depressed sigh.

 _What the hell's gotten her into this state?_ His detective's instincts were pushing him to ask questions, to find out what was going on. It was tough, but he fought the urge; as chief, he couldn't come off as eager or prying. Besides, it was Fangmeyer who'd asked to speak to him. Every written and unwritten rule of etiquette said it was firmly on her to start.

Eventually Fangmeyer huffed and spoke. "I need a new partner, sir."

He blinked, not a little surprised and expecting more; the tigers he'd worked with were usually slow to bond with partners and as a rule didn't like their immediate teams changing much. When nothing was forthcoming he raised an eyebrow.

This time Fangmeyer sighed heavily before speaking. "You know as well as I do that it's been a rough few weeks for us," she began.

Exhaustion coloured her voice and he began wondering if she'd been sleeping as badly as himself.

"Well, J-" She cut herself off abruptly with a shake of her head. " _Officer Pawson_ is being a complete arse." An icy river of venom flooded her voice as she mentioned her partner before fading back beneath the sea of exhaustion. Looking him in the eye the tigress continued. "You know he had some trouble with some pigs when he was a cub? Well he seems to be allowing that to colour every aspect of his behaviour now."

Mason grimaced at that. He hadn't known any details of bullies in Pawson's case but it didn't really surprise him. Forming such a small fraction of the population, it wasn't uncommon for there to be only one or two predator kids at most in a school class. That made it unpleasantly easy for them to be ostracised and picked on, and children could be extraordinarily cruel.

"He's never really liked prey but with everything that's going on, with the talk we're hearing outside -" She paused, looking him in the eye, "- and inside the precinct... It's affecting his professionalism and I do _not_ want to keep working with him."

Pondering her words for a minute, he contemplated how hard he should press. "I need more than that, Fangmeyer," he eventually rumbled. "We're not exactly overflowing with officers at the moment and I'd need a very good reason to break up other partnerships and shuffle the roster around."

Fangmeyer looked up at him, her face hardening. "I am _not_ going to repeat any of the crap he's been saying lately."

He opened his mouth to reply but she cut him off, raising a paw as she continued. He suppressed a small shiver as he noticed her claws were emerging again.

"He's being unprofessional, rude, specist and is generally making life harder for the rest of us. The stuff he came out with this morning..."

Mason found his eyes flicking down to her now half-extended claws as she trailed off. She was gripping the sides of the chair fiercely, making the plastic groan in feeble protest. He refocused on her face just in time to see her eyes narrow slightly. _Crap, did she catch me looking?_

"Sir, you saw how angry I was this morning," she said carefully, drawing a deep breath and clearly making an effort to calm herself.

He nodded slowly, unsure where she was going.

" _Pawson_ ," she spat, "was being a complete and utter piece of shit in the gym. He was taunting other officers and when I confronted him about his behaviour, we... Had an argument."

An eyebrow lifted at that. _So I wasn't imagining the coldness in the Bullpen this morning. Must have been quite an... Argument. They're both normally pretty damn professional._

"Are you saying he was verbally abusing fellow officers? And that he verbally attacked you when you defended them?"

Gritting her teeth, the tigress nodded. "I don't know if it's enough for IA to intervene or if he just needs some time off to cool down," she admitted. "But either way, I don't want to have to keep working with him."

Mason sighed. "Unless we have recordings, even multiple testimonies won't be able to get much more than a slap on the wrist from IA. They can't be seen to be persecuting anybody, which is exactly what Pawson would probably claim if we tried to pin him without any evidence."

Fangmeyer nodded stiffly, her whiskers drooping. "I understand sir."

"But," he continued, talking right over the second half of her sentence. "That doesn't mean you need to put up with it."

She looked him in the eye and blinked in surprise.

Nodding, he continued. "I can break you two up right now, unless you'd rather finish the day's patrols?"

She shook her head and opened her mouth but he ploughed onwards before she could speak, the motion having been enough for him.

"Right then. It'll take me a little while to sort out the roster so you'll be on desk duty for the next couple of days."

A slow nod was his only response. It was understandable: none of his officers enjoyed desk duty when they could be out helping other mammals. That and paperwork was never fun, no matter what your job was. "And Pawson?" she growled.

"I'll stick him down in records for now. With any luck having him cooped up in a monitored building will give us something to use against him."

"Thank you, sir..." Her expression was a mix of relief, gratitude and a little confusion. "But, w-"

Cutting her off with a snort and a scowl, Mason nearly growled as he spoke. "Why am I pursuing him?" Not bothering to wait for a response, he answered his own question. "Because nobody, and I mean _nobody_ , messes with my officers."

He was absolutely unprepared for Fangmeyer's reaction. She stiffened, face hardening into a scowl, then slowly stood. Snapping to attention, not even her tail flicking, she spoke in a cold, flinty voice. "Thank you sir." Without waiting to be dismissed, she spun on her heel and went for the door. He could only sit there blinking in shock.

_What the hell?_

The tigress paused at his door and, without turning, spoke in a tone that made him shiver again. "Just so that we're clear: thank you for dealing with Pawson. But I'm still _seriously_ pissed at you for what happened to Judy."

Flabbergasted, he could only sit there, rooted to the spot, as the uncomfortably _predatory_ female viciously pulled open his office door and left without another word, slamming it behind her.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two hours later Mason was still sat at his desk. Not that he'd managed to get any actual work done. Every time he tried to focus something seemed to come up. First he'd had to call Pawson in to explain the situation to him. Then there had been a call from the mayor, which was about as frustrating and unproductive as talking with any career politician usually was, especially when they had an axe to grind. There had been two more call-outs that the dispatch team notified him of during that time as well.

 _And I was looking for a way to start delivering good news earlier._ he grumbled to himself. Leaning back with a sigh, he decided to shelve that issue too. _So. What the hell am I going to do about Fangmeyer?_ Guilt flashed through him again as he recalled her parting words.

_"... what happened to Judy."_

_Damn it! I didn't do anything to her. It's not m-_ He cut off his own thought with a snort and shake of his head. _For gods' sake grow a pair,_ he scolded himself. _It's not_ entirely _my fault. I could -_ should _have done more. But that's the problem with 20/20 hindsight._

Dropping his head into his hooves with another sigh, he swallowed thickly. Everything to do with Hopps had been a mess ever since she got into the academy and it was supremely frustrating thing that nothing he'd been able to do at the time or since had helped.

 _Damn bunny was just so reckless and over-eager,_ he grumbled. _If she hadn't been..._

Sighing again, knowing that this was the real reason he'd been so worked up for weeks, he admitted to himself that he was just making excuses now. Losing an officer always hurt. The ZPD was much more of a family than most mammals realised and any time one of them was taken the family suffered together. It was worse as chief: being responsible for the other officers made the dynamic more like that of a parent. And losing a child hurt. A lot.

Hopps hadn't done anything wrong. Not one thing. This whole steaming pile of dung was his mess, his fault. Closing his eyes in pain, Mason admitted to himself that he knew exactly what Fangmeyer had been talking about.

 _Losing an officer_ always _hurts. But when it's your own fault..._

Thinking more clearly now that he'd admitted Hopps' lack of culpability to himself, he realised that there was still one missing piece. _Why is it just Fangmeyer? And why has she reacted so strongly?_

He calmly appraised the situation, pulling in facts from wherever he could; if it was possibly relevant it was included. Nothing quite seemed to click though. Eventually he began to consider the tigress's personality. She was tough, didn't tolerate nonsense and was an effective squad leader; she took pride in being one of, if not _the_ , best officer in the precinct; she wasn't nearly as much of a show-off as some of his other feline officers. Struggling to make sense of the pool of information before him, Mason sighed slowly and massaged the bridge of his nose.

The a thought struck him. _Wait. She's one of the best officers in the precinct and is always acting to retain that crown. She's always working hard, proving herself._ He swallowed. _Just like Hopps had to constantly prove herself. What... what if she looked up - no, not looked up to - but respected, at least, the rabbit?_

Groaning as he came to that realisation, he began honestly wishing he kept a bottle in his office. _Shit._ Tigers were among the most habitually solitary of mammals - not that that was unusual for a large predator - but they also had complex social dynamics, one of the reasons that Fangmeyer's request for a new partner had thrown him earlier. _If Fangmeyer decided that Hopps was worthy of being considered a friend..._ Groaning again as he slumped in his chair, Mason was simultaneously relived and depressed by the lack of a large bottle of something unpleasantly strong in his office.

Several minutes later, just as he was regaining the will to move, the intercom buzzed.

"CHIEF!"

The call was panicked, urgent in a way he hadn't heard from a dispatch officer in years. Wrestling his unruly emotions into submission, he reached for the phone. "Yes?" It came out steely and professional, which relieved him. No way did he need speculation about his own mental state being added to the precinct's gossip pool. The next words through the speaker made him grit his teeth and sent a icy shudder down his spine.

"O- o- officer down, sir. We have an officer down call."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, wow. So yeah, this was a bit slow. I'm really sorry about that; as a regular reader of a bunch of different fics, I know full well the pain of waiting for an update. In my defence, _everything_ kind of exploded at the same time: work went crazy, my parents' business had some IT problems, my sister got pretty worked up about an exam. You name it, it's happened in the last week and a half - feels like that anyway.
> 
> This chapter also got delayed by the fact it's nothing like I'd originally planned. It wasn't going to focus entirely on Bogo to begin with, then when that turned out to be the direction it was going in, I found myself having to rework several chunks because I'd ended up putting in spoilers. Does that happen to anyone else? Your chapter just sort of becomes alive, takes over and decided it's going to something unplanned and spoiler-y?
> 
> Also Fangmeyer: let me know what you though of that! That whole sequence of interactions was never part of the original plan and it grew in very organically. I'm still not quite sure how it's turned out.
> 
> Oh and I know I promised I'd reveal more details of Nick's nightmare/the events at the museum in this chapter but, well... Like I said, it kind of mutated. It's coming, I promise, and one of the perks of things changing like this is that a fair chunk of the next chapter (which was originally slated to go here) is already in place. That means that even if I need to spend another weekend driving back and forth across most of the width of the country to fix computers, the next chapter will be out fairly soon.
> 
> Yours contritely,  
> A totally-not-mad scientist.


	4. Chapter 3: A Vicious Predator

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N  
> Well damn. I know I said this one wouldn't take long, but it turned out to be pretty tricky to get right. I'm still not 100% happy with some of it, but I don't know quite how I should tweak it. Anyway, here's chapter 3. Enjoy :)

Nadine Fangmeyer sat slumped at her desk, head in her paws. _Damn it girl, are you trying to get yourself fired?_ She shouldn't have gotten so worked up at the chief and knew she'd be lucky to get nothing worse than a couple of days of desk duty for it. _I'll take whatever comes, I guess. Though I said what had to be said. How dare he use_ that _line._ Sighing and lifting her head to shake it, hoping the action would clear it, she chose to focus on her gratitude that at least she didn't need to deal with _him_ any more.

Gradually calming, Nadine let out an exasperated huff, sat back, and resigned herself to a long, boring afternoon. Desk duty on its own was usually monotonous enough but since she wasn't in the habit of letting her own paperwork slide, she _really_ didn't have much to do. Deciding it wouldn't hurt to have a somewhat lazier day for once - after all, it wasn't like one off day would ruin her reputation - she stretched and settled more comfortably into her chair.

Daydreaming idly for a while was a pleasant distraction from the chaos of the city and life in general at the moment, though she did her best to ensure that she didn't actually fall asleep. Bogo would _not_ look kindly on that. Still, she soon found her thoughts wandering with the hazy logic of dreams. Thoughts of home, of her parents, of how they'd be reacting to all this if they were here. _Judy would have made one heck of an officer, especially if Chief'd assigned her to someone like me (okay, me). Who knows how all this would've played out then, eh?_ Thoughts of simpler times, of pleasant food and enjoying herself. All this and more drifted through her mind without urgency and the tigress found herself relaxing for the first time in weeks, a measure of peace settling over her.

Her tranquillity was rudely shattered as a golden blonde paw thumped against the wall of her cubicle. Closing her eyes fully, willing herself not to start literally tearing into the mammal that paw belonged to, she braced for the tirade. _Of course he came to 'talk'._

"What. The. HELL?!"

Sighing in exasperation, Nadine stood and turned to face her former partner. "You're an arse hole, Pawson," she began in a steady, flat voice. "You've done a pretty good job of hiding it for the last couple of years, I'll give you that much." Shaking her head and allowing her voice to take on a harder, flinty edge, she continued. "But the way you've been acting for the past couple of weeks... And this morning. Seriously. What the heck was that all about? It was like you were going out of your way trying to prove how much of specist -"

"Really?" He cut her off with a swipe of his paw. His tone was angry, she noted. Not furious, just angry. "That's what you think?"

She snorted derisively. "How the hell else do you think I'm going to take comments like 'stupid fat hams', 'horn-brain' and 'cute little pony'?" she jeered. "Especially when you're talking about fellow officers!"

Pawson just looked at her like she'd grown a second head. Determined not to give him a chance to piss her off further, she barrelled on.

"I know you've got a chip on your shoulder about how you got treated as a cub, and well, boo frickin' hoo. That doesn't give you the right to treat others like that." Shooting him a glare of disgust - emphasised so he'd be sure to catch it - she opened her mouth to finish when he growled over her.

"Oh shut it, Nadine!" His paws were knotted into fists and he was not quite trembling with suppressed emotion. Most wouldn't have noticed it, but she'd spent nearly two years working with him day in, day out, and she could see exactly how angry he was. "I can't believe you went to Bogo to get me shoved into records because _you_ couldn't take a gods-damned _joke_ that wasn't even aimed at you!"

"A _joke_?" She was so incredulous that she didn't have time to come up with anything else to say before the idiot continued.

"Yes! I was _joking around_ this morning. Just 'cause it's true doesn't mean it's not a joke."

Nadine's eyes narrowed at that. _He's not serious, is he?_ Yesterday she might have doubted; after this morning, after what he was saying now, she knew. "So let me get this straight," she began icily. "Today, from your point of view, has been joking in the gym, an argument with me for no good reason, and me running to Bogo to shove you off into records because I don't have a sense of humour?"

The obnoxious idiot had the audacity to _smirk_ at her as he shrugged. "Pretty much," he said in such an offhand tone that Nadine had to make a huge effort to not shove him right through the wall of the cubicle.

Lowering the temperature and timbre of her voice further, she found herself growling her next words out. "I went to Bogo asking not to work with you any more." He opened his mouth but she ignored him, continuing as if nothing he could have said was of any importance or relevance whatsoever. "I asked not to work with you because you've proven yourself to be a pathetic waste of fur."

The lion bristled, his anger boiling over. "Now wait just one-"

Talking right over him, Nadine acted like she hadn't even noticed his words. "You've spent the last few weeks doing everything you can to prove your old bullies right." That stopped him cold, jaw dropping in astonishment. "You're proving that you're nothing more than a vicious predator with no empathy. You've treated a few of us larger predators as near-equals - though you hold yourself above even us - and have treated every single prey mammal you've come across as an irrelevance, as some _thing_ to be toyed with at your leisure."

Staring at her in slack-jawed astonishment, Pawson managed to gather himself enough to force out a response. "Have you gone _totally NUTS_?!" he yelled. "Are you seriously telling me that you asked for a different partner because you took my jokes-"

"If you try to brush it off as _jokes_ again-" Nadine growled, low and threatening.

Ignoring her, Pawson continued as she had earlier. "-as specism and bullying? Gods, tigers don't make friends. What the hell were you thinking asking for a new partner over small, stupid misunderstanding?"

Growling properly for a moment - a deep, dangerous rumble that had more than a few of their co-workers taking a step or two away - Nadine could barely hold herself in check as her claws slid partway from their sheaths. "See, that's _exactly_ what I'm talking about. The _stereotype_ that you're mis-quoting there is that 'tigers don't make friends _easily_ '. That you got from that to 'tigers don't make friends, period' I can understand, but that you honestly think that applies to me after knowing me and working with me for years?"

She held up a paw, claws still visibly protruding, cutting him off before he could offer a response. "Leave. Just get out of here. I'm done with this conversation."

His eyes narrowed at that. "I'm not done." The hot anger that had filled his voice had burned away; the cold fury that replaced it seemed to nearly match her own.

"Get out. Before I make you."

He hesitated, knowing full well that she was more than capable of carrying out her threat. Survival and self-preservation though, didn't seem to be particularly strong instincts in him. Growling back at her, he snapped, "No!"

Before Nadine could more than blink at his terminal stupidity he was off again.

"I want to know why-"

"I _already_ told you _why_ -"

"No. Not why you went to Bogo, that's..." rolling his eyes and shaking his head, he trailed off as if he couldn't find the words to describe her reasons. "No, I want to know why you're sticking up for these damn prey."

Nadine just blinked at him in shock. "What? I'm standing up for the _fellow officers_ you were insulting this morning."

He snorted. "Give me a break, Nadine. I may not be the stronger one in this partnership but you sure as hell aren't the brains. You've been getting worked up about how I've apparently been treating everyone for _weeks_. So why are you sticking up for prey?"

Astonishment rendering her unable to speak for a moment, she eventually managed, "I'm sticking up for everyone you're attacking. You just think it's prey because ninety percent of the mammals you run into are prey and they're the ones you're being the worst to!"

His eyes narrowed. "You're a fucking _hunter_ aren't you. That's what this is."

Nadine's blood chilled right down to absolute zero at that. Where a sexual predator was any mammal that sought to take advantage of another, usually of the same species, a hunter was an altogether viler breed. The word had all sorts of negative connotations anyway, but in this context it really took the cake. Hunters were predatory species that used their size, strength and natural weaponry to intimidate or assault smaller prey mammals into coerced sexual activity. More simply, they were predators who used their teeth and claws to assault, sexually assault or outright rape, usually smaller, prey.

Pawson had continued talking, not noticing as her tail slowed to a halt, freezing as old ambush instincts took over. Her ears had flattened back; her claws fully extended; her muscles coiled for action. Barely able to think through the fog of rage that had descended over her, Nadine did the one thing she could to avoid pouncing on the lion and tearing him apart.

Lions, particularly male lions, are pretty proud creatures. Not that that's uncommon among cats, they are pretty awesome in just about every way after all. But few species have as apt a collective noun as do lions: a pride. Amongst other things, lions are usually most careful about their appearance - the whole 'king of the jungle' thing and wanting to retain that regal air - and male lions in particular also delight in their ability to roar. To be fair, that's not unreasonable as it is an impressive vocalisation that goes just about unmatched in the mammalian kingdom.

Nadine's roar was a pretty potent challenge to that crown though. It echoed throughout the entire precinct, causing just about every mammal in the massive building to freeze in fear of the wrath that savage sound heralded. Flexing her claws repeatedly, Nadine fixed Pawson with a true death glare, one that not even Bogo would have been able to match. "Get." She took a step forward, bringing her nose to nose with the smaller feline. "Out." She spat the word out through clenched teeth, trembling with the effort of holding her arms still and not giving in to the urge to teach the slimeball in front of her a lesson he'd never be able to forget.

Somehow Pawson again had the audacity to hesitate. A deep growl rippled through the room. It was low enough that it was hard to hear. But it was loud enough that boy was it felt. The thin, flimsy boards and plastic that made up her cubicle walls, and those of several nearby cubicles, began to rattle in response to the throbbing of the air. Mammals stilled as they sought to avoid attention; hackles rose and coats puffed as fight-or-flight instincts dumped adrenaline into bloodstreams; a few would later swear their own limbs were vibrating from the noise alone. All around, mammals cautiously retreated further.

Pawson looked right into her eyes, fear showing in his own for the first time as she continued to snarl right in his face. He managed to hold her gaze for a moment then nervously dropped his eyes, clearly reluctant to take his eye off her lest she attack. Rounding his shoulders slightly and pulling his neck in, he slowly backed out of her cubicle, eyes flicking up occasionally to make sure she wasn't following. Nadine just stood where she was, still growling. Pawson kept backing up until he was halfway to the hall. Glancing up one last time, he turned and sprinted for the exit, desperate to escape the infuriated tigress.

Taking a long, shuddering breath as she stopped growling, Nadine lay an arm over the thin wall of her cubicle and slumped against it. The cheap piece of rubbish creaked alarmingly at the action but held. Breathing heavily, she blinked away the stinging from her eyes - damn, she really had been worked up - and pulled her claws back, consciously uncurling her fists until she could lay her palms together. Still leaning on the wall of her cubicle, she looked up cautiously and her heart sank.

Everyone working in the main office area was staring at her. Staring at her in fear, trepidation, alarm. Wincing, she took another slow, deep breath and half mumbled to the silent room, "Sorry."

Nobody moved for a moment. Then something that she'd never have expected happened. Someone started clapping.

Blinking in shock, Nadine looked up, ears perking and tail flicking, as she tried to find the mammal crazy enough to applaud her near-savage display. Before she could locate them though, _it spread._ Just like that, the whole office was cheering, whooping and applauding wildly.

_What the hell?_

After a few seconds of a display that seemed to make no sense, Nadine spotted Bill Hooveton, the deer that Pawson had been taunting in the gym this morning, as he stood on a chair to see over everyone else's heads.

"Wow!" he called out, loud enough to be heard over the ruckus. "Damn, Nadine, that was seriously impressive." He grinned sheepishly. "A little bit extremely terrifying, mind you, but impressive."

The room was quieting as the other officers began paying more attention to him.

"Pawson's never been the most pleasant of mammals, but you're absolutely right that he's been awful for the last couple of weeks." Pausing, making sure he was looking her right in the eye, the sincerity in his tone was touching. "Thank you. Thank you for standing up for us and putting him in his place. Hopefully the message will sink in, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see on that front."

There were a few chuckles at that, followed by some snickers as the stag nearly slipped off the chair he was now attempting to dismount.

Surprised by both Bill's words and the way everyone in the room looked back at her, Nadine fumbled for something to say. "Um... I ah... Well... Sorry about the whole terrifying thing?"

That brought on another round of chuckles, exacerbated when Frank Ursal, a brown bear, called, "Hey, guys, memo to everyone: if I ever start to annoy her, _stop me_!"

Somewhat embarrassed, Nadine ducked her head and found her seat, grabbing a pile of papers and attempting to appear absorbed in her work. With a few more jokes, the rest of the office drifted back to their own work and Nadine was able to breathe a quiet sigh of relief. She honestly didn't know how to take her colleagues' reactions to her display. Grateful that they didn't see her as a threat? Concerned that they weren't worried about her attacking them? Or was she reading too much into all this?

Glancing down at the papers in her paws, she realised that she didn't know if they were reports to read, paperwork for her to fill in, or something else entirely. Mentally shaking herself, she placed them down on her desk and started pulling herself into 'paperwork mode'.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An unproductive hour and a half later, Nadine found her gaze drawn to the tranquilliser gun protruding from its holster on her duty belt. She'd taken the belt off off and hung it on the side of her cubicle since it had been digging into her side as she sat. Regarding the weapon with clear distaste, she found herself mulling over the current situation again. The ZPD had always been an unarmed force, except for the specialist firearms and SWAT units, and it was only at the mayor's insistence that the department had been arm-twisted into issuing weapons of any kind to all patrol officers.

A police force _shouldn't need_ to be armed. Sure, the tranqs were non-lethal, but that was a matter of perspective: while the darts were all but harmless to mammals as small as wolves, an unlucky shot to a fox or smaller could damage internal organs. Yes they had specialised darts for smaller mammals but that was only a stop-gap. Most rodents, for example, would suffer pretty severe injuries from the force of the impact of a shot alone. And that wasn't even mentioning the issues of lethal doses, doses sufficient to stop breathing, allergies to the drugs in the darts, and the potential side effects of the tranquilliser mix with medication. Tasers had also been mooted, but they suffered from similar problems, not to mention the risk of just enraging a mammal that was slightly too large for the current setting.

On top of that, the organisations that preceded the ZPD had a long and distinctly chequered history when it came to weapons. There had been a few distinctly _unpleasant_ incidents in the past, not to mention the age old problems of corruption and large civil disturbances. It was all too easy for an armed force to turn into a private army and historically, armed forces at protests tended to elevate them to near civil war-level battles.

Grimacing at the direction her thoughts had taken, she shook her head and tried to re-focus on her work.

_Screw this. I'm going to get some coffee._

Hauling her frame out of the chair, she glanced at her belt once more. She _should_ keep it with her at all times.

_I'm only going to be gone a few minutes; it'll be fiiiine._

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Struggling to not growl at the stupid, pathetic excuse for a coffee maker in the break room, Nadine found herself tapping her foot as the piece of junk sputtered and steamed. _I swear it wasn't this bad for Bogo this morning._ Glaring suspiciously at the chrome and plastic contraption, she glanced up as one of the doors to the break room opened. She stiffened, ears splaying slightly, as Pawson froze in the doorway.

He watched her warily, as if expecting an attack, then slowly lowered his gaze, slumping his shoulders to make himself appear smaller. Backing out of the room cautiously, he closed the door without saying a word. Nadine breathed a sigh of relief. _Thank heavens for that. I don't think I'm really up to another fight with him._

Shaking her head, she reached for her now finished drink, only to nearly drop it as a klaxon wailed through the building. Her blood chilled and a shiver raced up her spine as she all but threw the mug onto the counter as fast as she could without breaking it or spilling anything onto the already stained floor. _Shit shit shit shit SHIT!_ Dashing for the door, she wrenched it open. _Of course the_ **one** _time you leave your belt behind,_ she berated herself, barrelling down the corridor.

The voice of the senior dispatcher on duty rang through the building as the screaming of the siren faded. "All officers, we have a report of both a savage mammal and an officer down. Savage is reported to be a fox, the officer concerned is Hopps, location is the Natural History Museum."

Nadine felt the blood drain from her face as she heard that. _No!_ She slammed into the door to the main office area, all but breaking it from its hinges. Rather ungracefully bouncing off the wall on the other side and nearly flattening Bill as he made for the door, she leapt for her cubicle.

"All officers not currently engaged with critical-priority tasks are ordered to attend the scene. This is a direct order from Chief Bogo."

Grabbing her duty belt without pausing in her mad dash, she scrambled for the back door, intending to head down to the armoury recently established in the basement via a route that should be less crowded. She didn't notice the chunk of chipboard that came away as she grabbed her belt until she reached the stairwell and began to fasten it. As she had to slow to take the stairs safely, it was the perfect opportunity to deal with the belt. Letting the chipboard clatter to the metal stairs she bounded down them, barely controlling her descent.

_Bogo's actually ordering_ everyone _out?_ She was puzzled. After everything else, after how he'd treated Judy, he was ordering _every_ available officer to respond? And he'd got the dispatcher to refer to her as _Officer Hopps_...

Sprinting into the armoury, she took a moment to identify the correct shelf and yelled over to the wolf manning the counter. "Call it a half-dozen fox-sided darts!" He just nodded, emphasising the motion to make sure she caught it; there was a time a place for paperwork and responding to an officer down call was not that time.

Turning, she dashed for the same staircase she'd used to get down here. Bounding up them three at a time, she burst into the lobby and raced for the front doors, barely registering the fresh crack in one of the glass panes. _Judy is_ **not** _going to get hurt while I'm on duty!_

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Mason slammed down the phone as soon as he'd finished giving his orders to the dispatch team. Every available squad car within a couple of minutes' drive was being diverted to the museum and everyone else in the building was about to get the message too. He shoved his chair back and practically knocked the heavy chief's desk over as he pushed past it, racing for the door.

Dashing to the stairs, he cursed the fact that his office was on the third floor. He cursed again, out loud this time, as he was forced to slow on the stairs. _Bloody_ hooves _!_ he griped, never in his life having wished for a nice set of dexterous, multi-digit paws, perhaps even with claws, as much as he was right then.

The shrieking of the All Officers Alert klaxon stabbed into his ears just as he reached the lobby. Ignoring it and the impending announcement, he accelerated towards the main entrance, scrabbling somewhat as his hooves struggled for grip on the polished floor.

Wincing internally at the sharp crack that his hoof made as he pushed the door open, he leapt down the steps to the street. _I think I broke something there... Who cares._

Beelining for the museum which was just across the park plaza, he noticed with relief that two larger cruisers were pulling up on either side of the museum's ornate entrance. Just getting close enough, he was about to call out to his officers when Fangmeyer bolted past him. _Damn she's gunning it!_ A moment later his eyes widened and he nearly stumbled as he realised she was down on all fours. _Shit! Has she gone savage as well?_

A moment later his fears were allayed as she skidded to a halt next to one of the cruisers and began rapidly handing out something from her belt. Catching up to Fangmeyer, he noticed the heavy footsteps of Officer Ursal behind him. _Wait, am I really that slow?_ Shaking his head at the distraction, he glanced around at the assembled mammals.

"Ok, we don't know what we're walking into," he began, speaking as quickly as he could while remaining clear. "Fangmeyer, Ursal and you four," he gestured to the four officers who'd arrived in the cruisers, "will push in and investigate as quickly as possible. Our priority is to find Hopps."

With simultaneous nods - almost as if it'd been rehearsed - the six mammals he'd indicated began to move towards the entrance, stacking up and preparing to enter, tranqs drawn.

"Hooveton, you and your partner stay out here and establish a perimeter," he instructed. "Keep the site secure and when others get here take as many as you need to lock down the other entrances, then send the rest in after us. I want nothing in or out of this building!"

Hooveton nodded sharply and Bogo turned to the team by the doors. While none of them were actually part of a firearms or SWAT unit, all of the mammals in this team, aside from Ursal, had spent time working closely with SWAT teams in the past. That should be enough. Hopefully. "Go," he grunted.

The two rhinos were on point and used their size and mass to their advantage, barrelling through the locked doors as if they were made of tissue paper. Charging after them, Fangmeyer and Ursal quickly spread out to the sides of the entrance so as to be able to lay down a wider arc of fire and make the team harder to hit as a group. Trunkaby and Higgins were up next, the elephant having to duck and shoulder the doors further apart.

The team was already advancing as Bogo crossed the threshold, knowing he shouldn't be there unarmed. _There are some calls you've just gotta be there for though._

"And I'll dart every predator in Zootopia to keep it that way!"

_What? That sounded like Bellweather!_

"It's your word against yours," came a different voice.

_And is that Hopps?_

A moment later it spoke again. "It's called a hustle, sweetheart. Boom!"

_Aww crap._ As the implications of what he'd just heard sank in, his team surrounded the two sheep standing at the rim of the sunken display pit. One of them was clearly Bellweather - her ridiculous puff of wool was pretty difficult to miss, after all - and the other was a bulky ram in bits and pieces of ZPD uniform.

Bellweather, who'd momentarily frozen, nodded at the ram. He tossed something to her then lowered his head and charged Fangmeyer just as an angry bleat came from behind them. Turning as Rhinovitz dove at Bellweather, trusting Fangmeyer to deal with the other sheep, Mason froze in shock. Two of his own officers were charging them!

Ursal and Trunkaby had turned at the same moment he had. With a loud trumpet the elephant leapt forward to meet the rogue officers' charge.

"Ursal, help Fangmeyer!" Bogo bellowed. "Higgins, cuffs!"

There was a muffled _thwump_ behind him and he spun again, dreading what he might find. He glanced around in confusion at the scene before him: nothing was unexpected. Fangmeyer had flipped the bulky ram onto his front and was busy cuffing him as Rhinovitz pulled Bellweather away from the pit, spinning her to cuff her.

"Stay away Nick!" came a desperate cry from in the pit. "Don't you dare come any closer!"

Bogo paled and ran for the edge, cursing the propensity of large civic buildings for polished floors. Skidding to a stop at the edge, he looked down in dismay at the scene in the pit. A stuffed display mammal seemed to have been torn to shreds, judging by the scraps of material and large-ish puffs of cotton-y fluff scattered around. There was no sign of a savage mammal, but Hopps was in trouble. She was crawling backwards on her elbows and even like that, favouring one leg. There was a fox on his back looking over at her with fear etched into his features.

Cursing his feeble eyesight, Bogo peered closer and managed to discern a faint blue fog enveloping Hopps. _Shit, what's that?_ He briefly considered jumping down into the pit but discounted the thought immediately. If that stuff was dangerous it made more sense to get a rope in the absence of anybody in hazmat gear. Turning to glare at Bellweather, still being restrained by Rhinovitz, he demanded as sternly as he could, "What the _hell_ is that stuff?"

Bellweather just grinned smugly at him. "You'll see!"

Grinding his teeth and struggling not to slap the sheep, he was distracted as Hopps called out again, much more feebly this time.

"Don't!"

Fangmeyer was rushing towards him now, Ursal having taken over holding down the ram who'd attacked her. Sparing a glance over at Trunkaby and Higgins, he was relieved to note that they seemed to have the other two sheep well in hand. Turning to Fangmeyer, about to order her to find some rope, he froze as a hiss erupted from the pit. It was a distinctly savage sound; no modern mammal was really capable of making noises like that. There was an abrupt and distinctly canid yelp of pain as he turned back towards the pit.

Opening his mouth to order Fangmeyer to get some rope _now_ and shivering in horror at the thought of Hopps being lost to savagery (they still hadn't made any real progress in curing the other affected mammals), it took him a moment to process what had just happened.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hearing the hiss from the pit, Nadine drew her tranq gun and stopped at the edge. _Oh CRAP!_ The fox didn't seem savage, but there was an ominous rustling in the fake grass. _SHIT! I can't shoot Judy with these!_ Rapidly considering her options, she didn't hesitate as she made up her mind: she leapt past Bogo down into the display.

"Fangmeyer!" he bellowed after her.

She ignored him, dropping to one knee as she landed.

The fox in front of her gasped and with a panicked look wheezed, "Head. Up."

She frowned at him, even as she got back to her feet.

Obviously noticing her unspoken question, he managed to continue. "Don't breathe..." He took a series of rapid, shallow breaths.

_Broken ribs?_

"Blue. Makes. Savage," he panted out.

Tipping his head back, he continued his rapid breathing.

Looking down in confusion, Nadine noticed the thin layer of blue fog spreading over the floor of the pit. Suppressing the urge to raise an eyebrow - it barely came up to her knees: how was she supposed to breathe it in? - she looked around for Judy.

The rustling had stopped moments after she landed and now she had nothing to go on. Holstering her tranq and ignoring the shouts from above, she cautiously walked over to the fox. In a low, calm voice she asked, "Hey, how are you doing? Broken ribs, huh?"

He winced and gave a shallow nod.

"I need to get you out of here before someone gets hurt," she continued, still trying to keep him calm. "Are you OK with me lifting you up?"

Grimacing, he nodded. "Gonna hurt."

"'Fraid so," she admitted, "but I don't think getting eaten by a savage bunny is going to feel any better." Bending down, she froze and snapped her head around as the fake grass to her left rustled.

Not noticing, the Fox coughed out a weak laugh. "Ah. Don't," he gasped. "Anyway. Been there. Done that. Already."

Glancing back at him in puzzlement, she raised an eyebrow as he gestured at his chest. _How'd he get from being eaten to broken..._ The thought trailed off as she noticed the spreading crimson stain on his shirt. _Damn, bunny's got some jaws on her!_ Rabbits, being herbivores, didn't exactly have teeth adapted for cutting into or tearing flesh. For Judy to have caused enough damage to make the fox bleed like that...

The grass rustled again and Nadine turned back to the sound, emitting a low, threatening, rumbling growl, much like she had earlier with Pawson. The rustling stopped immediately, as if the savage bunny were reconsidering the idea of attacking.

Thankful for at least buying herself a few moments, Nadine carefully scooped up the fox, wincing at his pained whimpers. "I gotcha, don't worry, you'll be OK," she reassured him. Looking up, she called to the chief, ignoring his glare. "Get Francine over here to help!"

For a moment he looked like he might delay to chastise her before snorting and bellowing for Higgins' partner to take over from Francine.

Reaching the edge of the pit, Nadine kept her ears angled back as best she could. Prey generally had the advantage in this sort of thing. The same ancient evolutionary pressures that had made predators more dangerous and more effective over the millennia had also honed the natural abilities of prey to evade and hide. A big part of that for most was excellent hearing and a wider field of vision than predators typically enjoyed.

Gently lifting the injured fox as high as she could, she sighed with relief as Francine took him with her trunk. While elephants may not be particularly dexterous, their trunks were long and strong enough that they made excellent additions to any sort of rescue team.

Her sigh turned into a pained yowl as, without warning, a grey blur leapt from the grass and fastened vice-like jaws around her right thigh - or at least as much of her thigh as would fit in a bunny's mouth. Instinctively she kicked out, trying to shake her attacker loose.

Freezing in terror as she realised what she'd just done, Nadine looked down in horror as the bunny's jaws slackened and a pained whimper escaped her. Shaking a mammal around by the head was a hellishly easy way of causing pretty severe spinal damage, if not outright breaking their neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N  
> So yeah, Fangmeyer turned up again and kind of took over most of the chapter. Whoops. That really wasn't the original plan. Then Pawson. That's the bit I'm not completely happy with. I hope that I conveyed his character properly and that the argument doesn't come across as shallow or anything like that.
> 
> Anyway, we finally have the museum scene (well, most of it ;) ) and another cliff hanger! Yes, I'm horrible, and no, I won't apologise for it. Go read my profile bio if you want evidence.
> 
> In other news, because reasons, I have two uninterrupted days to write ahead of me. Stay tuned for the next chapter. It's gonna be juicy, I promise.


	5. Chapter 4: Reassurance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay on this one - I'd planned on having it out last Friday. It was extremely tough to get right - or at least to get it into a state I'm happy with. So here it is, over a week later than intended. I hope it was worth the wait.

Yowling with pain as the rabbit's large, strong teeth dug into her heavily muscled thigh, the tigress kicked out sharply, trying to dislodge her attacker. There was a appallingly loud _crack_ -

Judy bolted upright in bed, ears and fur standing on end, heart hammering, breathing almost as fast. Feeling somewhat nauseous her heart and breathing were so rapid, she consciously slowed her gasping and fought to regain a measure of control over her body. After a moment she was able to take a deep, albeit very shuddery breath. _Sweet cheese and crackers!_

As her heart slowed she dropped her head into her paws. Her ears, though still stiff, weren't completely rigid and flopped forwards somewhat. Rubbing at her muzzle and the corners of her eyes, she continued to breathe steadily, forcing herself to calm. _It was just a dream. You know it was just a dream._ Another slow, deliberate, deep breath. _Get a grip. That didn't happen, you're right here, you're okay._

A minute later, having calmed considerably, she glanced at her alarm clock and suppressed a groan. _Great. 3:22am._ It wasn't that she particularly disliked nights - they could be quite peaceful and beautiful for one thing - but she just knew that falling asleep again now was going to be challenging, if not impossible. And that would not make for a fun day at work.

"Stupid nightmare," she muttered, careful to keep her voice down below the level at which any but a rabbit in the same room wouldn't have been able to hear. Her heart rate picked up slightly just at the muttered mention of the dream.

_Why the hell is it getting to me this strongly? It's never been this bad before._

Reflecting though, she admitted to herself that it probably had been that bad in the immediate aftermath. _Fine, it's not been this bad for a long time. Why now? What made this one so bad that I'm getting twitchy just thinking about it?_

Scrunching her muzzle and closing her eyes in concentration, she began to sift through the hazy memories of the dream. _Bellweather, Nick pretending to go savage, the ZPD showing up. That's all what happened and I've never worried about that._ Taking another deep breath to try to keep a lid on her heart rate, she continued her introspection. _Could it have been the dying at the end? That would probably wake me up pretty sharply, kind of like when you're falling in a dream and you wake up just as you're about to land and die..._ Though that was plausible, she just _knew_ that wasn't right. There was something else, something _off_ about the dream. _Come on, think!_ Now bowing her head, arms pressed against its sides, she gripped her ears, almost fighting with herself to work out the mystery.

_Blood._

A cold shiver ran through her from the tips of her ears to the base of her feet as the single thought ran through her mind. Not in the form of a word, just a feeling, an impression of thick, crimson liquid. _Blood?_ Though she was only asking herself a question, she felt herself shudder again. _What the hell, Judy? Why is that one word bothering you so much? You're not a squeamish doe, fainting at the sight of a..._

The thought trailed off as her eyes snapped open, ears shooting straight up again. _Oh Gods!_ Her breathing accelerated rapidly and her heart rate picked up as she realised what had bothered her so.

The thigh her teeth had clamped around had been covered in blood.

The only mammals in the pit had been her, Nick and Nadine. There was too much blood for it to be from her and she'd only attacked the tigress right at the end.

_Oh Nick! Oh gods, oh gods!_

Bringing a paw to her mouth, Judy was suddenly convinced she could taste blood. Leaping from her bed, she was about to bolt for the bathroom when an ghastly, inappropriately cheery and obnoxiously loud jingle blasted into the otherwise near-silent room.

Freezing for a moment, she mentally cursed before changing direction to dash for her desk. Snatching up the ringing phone, she mashed the answer button repeatedly without even bothering to check who was calling. She willed the stupid thing to shut up before it woke her neighbours. Bucky and Pronk might be loud but they didn't tolerate much noise from anyone else - or at least, they didn't take it quietly, which would utterly scupper any tiny sliver of a chance of getting back to sleep.

Putting the phone to her ear, Judy noticed - in a distracted sort of way - that she couldn't taste blood any more. Her heart was still pounding though. "H- hello?" she whispered, not really caring about the shakiness of her voice.

"Hey, Carrots," came the smooth voice of the most annoying fox in the world.

Sighing softly, she responded as steadily as she could. "Hey, Slick. Give me a minute to get somewhere I won't wake the neighbours."

"Sure," he shot back, sounding completely unperturbed

Placing her phone down on the bed, Judy pulled on a thick pair of sweatpants and the most ridiculous, overly-fluffy hoodie she owned (the stupid thing was actually marketed as like being wrapped in a cloud of bunny tails). Picking up her phone again, she grabbed her keys and let herself out of her room as quietly as possible, then crept up the two flights of stairs to the roof. Closing the door softly behind her, she leaned back against it and looked out over the sleeping city - or as much of it as she could see from here, anyway.

"Nick?" she asked into the phone as she slid down to sit against the door.

"Still here, Fluff. You manage to sneak out?"

"Yeah, I'm up on the roof now, and without any shouty neighbours, too."

"Well look at you. You know, I think you'd actually make a pretty good fox!"

Stifling a snort of laughter - _Damn, how does he do that?_ \- she relaxed against the door, not consciously aware of how much just hearing him speak had calmed her. "So what's up, Nick? How come you're calling at silly-o'clock in the morning?"

"Well," he began, embarrassment clear in his voice. Judy could just picture him standing there on the phone, one hand rubbing the back of his head as he fessed up. "I um..."

"Nick," she cut in, amused at his reticence. "You're not nerving yourself up to tell me you had a wet dream about blueberries or something, are you?"

There was utter silence for a moment.

"Wh- NO!" He was almost yelping. "No! Ugh, Carrots, are you trying to put me off fruit for the rest of my life?"

She giggled. "Hmm, now that's a vehement denial."

"Oh for the love of... Carrots, please, just stop."

"Come on, Slick. Can't you take a little of what you dish?"

"Fine, fine, you can tease me, just please stop embarrassing me!"

Still giggling, she shot back, "Well stop setting yourself up then and tell me why you're calling." She heard him take a deep breath, steadying himself.

"Okay, firstly," he began, seeming back in control. "I'm sorry if I woke you, but I, well..."

Judy's smile slowly faded as a sinking feeling seemed to suck any good cheer out of her. "A nightmare?" she asked quietly when he didn't finish.

"Yeah," Nick replied, his voice nearly as soft. After a brief pause, he continued. "The museum again. It... It kind of got to me and, well..."

Judy nodded, not needing him to say more. They'd both slept pretty badly for a while after the showdown with Bellweather. She'd been able to talk to her parents and some other officers but Nick hadn't had anyone to turn to. Eventually she convinced him to confide in her at least. It had taken a while for him to open up, but once he had, he'd been grateful - though snarky as ever - for her intervention. Just before he'd left for the academy, she made him promise to call her if there were more nightmares. Never mind the time, never mind the place; as long as she wasn't in the middle of arresting someone she'd take his call no matter what else was going on.

Speaking gently, she tried to reassure him. "It's okay, Nick. I wasn't actually sleeping anyway, and I meant what I said. I _want_ you to call me whenever you need to."

A quiet, "Thanks, Judy," came back through the phone and she felt her heart clench. Nick used her real name so rarely, it always meant a huge amount when he did.

She waited, seeing if he would carry on. There was nothing forthcoming however, so she prompted, as soothingly as she could, "So, the museum, huh?"

"Yeah," he eventually huffed out. "Yeah, the museum. It all went more-or-less as it actually did, right up until the end."

Judy's heart sank as he paused, her pulse loud in her ears. "How did it end?" she forced out, her voice little more than a strained whisper.

It took a moment, but Nick slowly admitted, "Fangmeyer didn't show up. Or at least not in time."

Judy began to tremble as another shiver ran through her. _Oh Gods!_

"It... It was like everything was in slow motion," Nick continued, unaware of her reaction. "I could feel you around my neck, getting tighter and tighter. Then I woke up to find I was actually kind of strangling myself with my blanket. You okay, Fluff?" His question was full of concern, no doubt due to the pathetic whimper that had escaped her.

"Y- yeah. I'm f- fine."

"You don't sound fine-"

She cut him off sharply. "I'm _fine_ , Nick. Just... give me a minute." Taking a juddering breath, she fought to calm herself again.

"Judy," came the fox's gentle, concerned voice. "Why weren't you sleeping?"

Letting her head fall back against the door with a gentle thump, Judy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. A long, slow inhalation; held for a moment; an ever-so-slightly shaky exhalation. Keeping her eyes closed, she admitted, "I had a nightmare too."

"I'm guessing the museum didn't go so well for you either then?" Nick asked after a moment.

Gently shaking her head, she managed to choke out a soft, "No..."

"Wanna tell me about it?"

Biting the inside of her lip, Judy didn't answer.

"Come on, Carrots," Nick prodded softly. "I told you about mine."

A few breaths later, she quietly said, "Kind of the same." She heard Nick swallow thickly. "It was all fine until the end. Nadine - Fangmeyer - broke my neck when she kicked out and that's when I woke up."

"Well that doesn't sound too awful by nightmare standards," Nick began.

"That's not the problem," she interjected, a trace of panic in her voice. Nick shut up immediately at that. Taking another breath, she continued. "Yeah, the whole 'dying to get out of a dream' thing isn't that bad. But that's not what got to me. I... It..." _Come on, just tell him. You know it didn't actually happen._ Sighing, she managed to say in a choked whisper, "I killed you, Nick." There was silence for a moment. "I... Nadine's leg was covered in blood. Like, completely soaked in blood before I ever bit her."

"Judy," Nick's voice was soft, compassionate, reassuring. It calmed her, made her want to burrow into it, to snuggle up in that bubble of calm.

Wanting to finish now that she'd started, she didn't give him the chance to carry on. "It's... I... Look, your dream, me biting your throat. Then mine, blood everywhere..." _I killed him!_ She swallowed, suddenly unable to continue.

"Shhh, shhh, Judy, it's okay. I'm here. I'm fine. You didn't hurt me." Hearing his voice calmed her a lot faster than she'd been able to calm herself after waking. It calmed her enough that she was able to finish, to give voice to her final piece of guilt.

"Nick," her voice was still a little shaky, but she ignored that. "When I woke up... I- I could taste blood." She was hugging herself desperately now. "I k- killed you and I could taste your blood when I woke up." Drawing her legs up, she curled into herself as much as she could while sitting against the cold door, sniffling.

"Hey, hey, calm down, Judy. Please?" Nick's voice, though still reassuring, contained an edge of desperation. "Come on, I'm fine, you know you didn't really hurt me very much at all." He continued to sooth her until her sniffling stopped. "That's better, huh?"

She nodded, bobbing her head forwards and backwards a couple of times, not caring that he couldn't see. She did feel better; hearing his voice, his calm, smooth, gentle voice was exactly what she needed after the horrors of her nightmare.

"I've just got one question, though I'm worried it might upset you again."

She sniffed, rubbing an arm across her short muzzle. "It's okay, Slick. Talking to you has calmed me down a lot, I promise. I'll be fine."

He hesitated a moment, reluctant. Then, "so how do you know you were tasting blood?"

With a weak chuckle, she managed to respond fluidly. "What? Worried I'm secretly a Krell?"

He groaned. "Oh no. Why, _why_ did I show you that film?"

"Because it was hilariously awful?" she asked, feeling somewhat better. "And because you knew I'd find the idea of evil aliens wearing bad bunny body-suit disguises as ridiculous as you did?" A soft chuckle came back through the phone, making the corners of her own mouth twitch upwards in the beginnings of a weak smile.

"You know, I think I've been rubbing off on you too much. The Officer Hopps I met five months ago wouldn't have dodged the question."

"Har har," she shot back. "What happened to not wanting to upset me?"

"You said you'd be fine!"

"And I am. I'm not upset. I just wanted to talk about something else for a bit." She sighed. "Look, Nick. I've had my share of cuts and scrapes, not to mention nosebleeds. I know what blood tastes like."

There was a moment of silence. "Of course." Nick's voice was a little more tense, most of the amusement gone. "Little miss action bunny. Of course you'd get yourself beaten up."

Realising how he'd interpreted her words, Judy backtracked rapidly; the paw not holding her phone flailing wildly. "No no no no no! Not like that. Crackers, Nick. I didn't spend my childhood being beaten up!"

"Then what happened?" he asked cautiously.

"Just stupid kit stuff," she said vaguely. "You know, climbing trees, running around and tripping over rocks. That sort of thing."

"Right." He didn't sound completely convinced. "And the nosebleeds?"

Judy hesitated, knowing she couldn't deflect this completely. "Okay, fine. So I got into a few fights at school," she admitted shortly. "I won nearly all of them though. It really wasn't a big deal."

He sighed heavily. "You know," he began slowly. "The more I find out about you, the more I realise how much we're - how much our lives are - two sides of the same coin."

Judy's heart clenched at that. "No, Nick," she stated flatly. "Don't. You had a much worse time growing up that I did. Don't denigrate what you went through; don't pretend I had things nearly as rough as you." Knowing full well he was about to shoot back with some ridiculous comment, she continued with a small smirk. "And this isn't a Marty Cobra sketch, so don't even try to turn it into one!"

He chuckled weakly. "Okay, Carrots, okay. Just lay off me!"

She smiled softly, feeling so much better than when she woke. This had been exactly what she needed: to hear the voice of her best friend; to laugh with him and to tease him; to be teased by him in return. "Alright, Slick, come on. Your turn."

"My turn for what?" he asked warily.

"You've made me feel a heck of a lot better and now it's your turn. In fact it was your turn first since you called me."

He chuckled softly. "Yes, yes it was." There was a pause and Judy just _knew_ he was taking a moment to smirk that horribly smug hustler's smirk of his. "Bad bunny!"

He sounded so indignant she had to stifle a giggle. _Impossible fox!_

"You should know better than to cut the line," he continued. "An Officer should know better than to abuse their position!"

"Come on, Slick," she prodded. "It's not entirely my fault anyway."

He huffed. "I expect some sort of compensation anyway."

"Blueberries?" she asked as sweetly and innocently as she possibly could.

There was a pause. "I- Don't. Don't go there, _please_."

"Alright then, Slick," she chuckled. "So what's bothering you so much? Sounds like you didn't even die in your dream."

He sighed heavily. "Yeah, you've got me beat there." A pause. "It's just... I don't know. Something's just... _wrong_ I guess? It's hard to explain."

As he trailed off, Judy decided to take a shot in the dark. "Is it because a bunny was about to kill a fox?" she asked, as gently as she could.

"I... I guess." Came his hesitant response. "I don't know... I... Everything after you went savage just felt wrong. I can't really explain it better than that." He paused, trying to put his feelings into words. "Look, maybe being attacked by a rabbit was some of it, but I don't think that was the real problem."

Judy didn't say anything, though she was painfully aware of the fact that her suggestion had probably struck closer to home than Nick was admitting. He had had bad experiences with prey in the past, after all.

"I guess the thing that was worst about it was that it was _you_." He took a shaky breath. "You were the first mammal to really believe in me, the first to really push me to be better." He paused again and Judy had to fight not to sniff as her eyes began to sting. "You changed my whole life for the better, Judy," he continued.

She did sniff at that. Him using her real name didn't help either.

"I think what really bothered me was that it was _you_ that attacked me."

Squeezing her eyes shut and taking a shaky breath, she began to speak. "Nick-"

He never gave her the chance to continue, talking right over her. "I've spent so long building walls, keeping my distance from other mammals. Then you come bouncing into my life and it's like all that reinforced concrete turns into the flimsiest of old wooden fences when you're around. It's a little scary, to be honest," he admitted.

"Nick," she began again. "I'd never hurt you like that. _Never_."

"I know, Judy." He hesitated, reluctant, even now, to be honest. "I know you'd never hurt me... deliberately."

Judy stiffened, then curled up again, hugging herself as tightly as she could with one arm. "Oh, Nick..."

"Hey, Carrots," Nick soothed immediately. "Look, this is at least seventy-four percent my fault for being so messed up! You shouldn't blame yourself."

"Nick, you know that's not true," she responded miserably, completely ignoring his attempted humour. "You l- let me in a- and I- I- hurt you." She sniffled. "I hurt you as b- badly as it was p- possible for me to-"

"Stop it, Judy." Nick's voice was firm and calm. "We've been over this. I don't blame you, and you shouldn't blame yourself for that. I forgave you, and we're moving on, remember?"

Judy took a moment to get a grip on her roiling emotions. "L- look, Nick," she began shakily. "I- You can say that - and I _know_ you mean it - but I don't... I don't know if I can forgive myself for it all."

"Judy," he tried to interrupt, a note of warning in his tone.

Barrelling onwards, she tried desperately to explain. "First it was that awful press conference. After I did that, after I caused so much hardship, you forgave me. Next it was Doug's lab. I nearly got you killed on that train. If we'd been a bit slower or a bit less lucky... Then it was the museum. I hurt you _again_. You refused to leave; you chose to stay with me, even though the sensible thing was to do the opposite. And I hurt you because of that." Nick tried to interrupt at every pause for breath but Judy refused to give him the opportunity.

"I'd never hurt you... deliberately," she echoed, the final word soft and sad. "I'd never hurt you deliberately, but I'm scared, terrified, that I'll hurt you again by accident. Or that you might be hurt by being around me, or because someone tries to hurt me..." trailing off with a sniffle, she fought to hold her tears.

Biting her lip, waiting for a response, she felt almost as bad as she had after the press conference. _Oh Nick. I can't keep doing this to you!_

When he eventually spoke up, his voice was soft, sincere and slightly thick - as though he were struggling with his own emotions. "Judy, listen to me, please," he began.

Sniffling, she wiped her arm across her muzzle again and nodded.

"I- I don't really know what I'm doing here," Nick admitted slowly, "but can _you_ hear _me_ out this time?"

"Yeah, Slick. I'm listening."

"I said it's a little scary how much you get to me, how well you get past my walls." He paused for a moment, nerving himself up. "That's lie. It's a _lot_ scary. I might even go with terrifying. Sure I've let you in a bit, but even then..."

Judy could picture him perfectly again, shaking his head, for once at a loss for words as he struggled for honesty and with his his emotions. _Poor fox..._ She wanted to respond, to tell him he didn't have to do this, to assure him that he didn't need to make himself uncomfortable. She'd promised to listen though. Biting her tongue - and still firmly hugging herself - she waited for him to continue.

"It's scary how you get to me but..." He trailed off again, then abruptly huffed. "I- I guess I... I trust you, Judy."

Judy froze. She was sure even her heart stopped for a moment.

"You know," Nick continued slowly. "I don't think I've ever said that - or been able to say that - to any other mammal. I've let you in a bit, and you can breeze past what's left of my walls and I... I don't really mind." He took a long, slow breath. "It's scary, but only because it's new, because I've never been exposed like this before. I'm not scared of you Judy. I trust you." The second time, those three words were delivered without hesitation and far more emphatically. "I know you'll never choose to hurt me and if the risk of a misunderstanding, if the risk of being hurt accidentally, is the price of knowing a crazy rabbit, then I'm not sure it's worth it. If that's the price of getting to be your friend though, I'll pay it without question."

Judy could _not_ **believe** this fox! Knowing damn well what he was doing, in the space of three sentences he'd driven her from tentative elation, to crushing despair, to joyful relief. _I guess I kind of deserved it though._ Removing her paw from her mouth - she'd been biting a knuckle as he talked - she drew a very shaky breath.

"Thanks, Slick." It was hard to get the words out but she forged on, determined as ever. More than ever, in fact. "I promise I'm going to spend the rest of my life trying proving that I deserve that trust." _Am I really the first mammal he's been able to trust?_ A moment later, as Nick chuckled softly, another thought popped into her mind. _Or maybe just the first that he's_ wanted _to trust?_

"You really don't have to do that, Judy." Nick's tone was lighter, more playful than before. "I mean, you've already got a full-time job..."

If he'd been there, she'd have punched him for that. _Stupid fox. Only he'd turn something like this into a joke._

"Seriously, Carrots, don't quit the force!" He was pleading, but clearly over-playing it as dramatically as he could over the phone. "That would make all this torture I'm putting myself through pointless."

Absolutely _not_ trying to suppress a chuckle, Judy found her voice much steadier as she responded. "Don't worry, Slick, I'm not going anywhere." She paused to chew her lip for a moment. "But I did promise to try, and you know what that means."

He sighed. "Yeah. Miss police bunny. You really aren't ever going to stop trying, are you? No matter what?"

"No matter what," she echoed resolutely.

"Just promise me you won't do something silly and get yourself hurt because of this."

"Niiiick," she began with a hint of exasperation. _I'm not a kit!_

"Judy." He said it firmly and decisively. "If you get hurt because you think you need to prove that I should trust you then a) that's not helping the 'trusting you' case and b) I'll feel horrible and very guilty for even mentioning trust to you. You don't want that, right? And anyway, it's not like you were planning on hurting yourself to prove that I should trust you. Right?" He drew out the last word playfully.

Shaking her head - _Impossible fox, still joking around_ \- she huffed: "Fine!" Leaning back against the door once more, she closed her eyes. "Fine, I promise I won't hurt myself to prove I deserve your trust. Happy?"

"Ecstatic," he deadpanned in response.

_Don't giggle, don't giggle!_ She giggled. Before she could begin to chastise herself for it, Nick let out a small cheer.

"Yay! I got you to laugh!"

Sighing, she dropped her head into her free paw. "Nick..." she trailed off in exasperation, unable to articulate her feelings. _Dumb fox._ "Look, I was supposed to be helping you now, not going all emotional on you _again_."

"Hey, Carrots, relax." His voice was back to its usual smoothness with that hint of dry humour that was pure Nick Wilde. "Talking to you _has_ helped. I guess it's kind of like when you got me to admit I was having nightmares in the first place, you know?" He paused, searching for the words he wanted. "I'm not... It... This wasn't really easy for me to talk about, but it's like just doing the talking has helped. I can't really explain it better than that."

"Are you sure, Nick?" She still wasn't completely convinced. "I mean, you admitted that you're scared of getting hurt - of me hurting you - again."

"Yes, yes I did say that. What you're ignoring, little miss bunny, is that I also said I'm okay with that _because it's you_ , because _I trust you_."

_Sweet_ cheese and crackers _! How can three little words_ do that _to me?_ Her whole body was relaxing, heart rate slowing. "Thanks, Nick," she whispered, unable to speak louder past the lump in her throat.

"Thank _you_ , Judy." There was a moment of silence, then Nick spoke again, calm and collected as ever, giving no indication of the nature of their just-finished talk. "Now, it's gone four in the morning and you, miss emotional bunny, need to get some sleep."

"You're right, Slick," she grudgingly admitted.

"'Course I am, Fluff, it's me after all."

Shaking her head, she refused to feed his snark. _That's one insatiable beast._

"Can't imagine the rest of precinct one wants to deal with viciously grumpy rabbit either."

Sighing, she shook her head. _Should I ask him?_

"Okay, you're not laughing at me and you're not telling me how awful my sense of humour is: you _are_ tired, Fluff. Go get some sleep, we'll catch up later, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," she conceded wearily, suddenly very aware of both the time and the cold wind that had sprung up while they'd been talking. "On one condition!" she blurted, mind made up.

"A _condition_?" Nick's voice was curious and not-quite incredulous. "Are you seriously negotiating with me about your bed time? What am I, your mum?"

"Ugh, no!" she groaned out. "You're far too sarcastic to be anyone's mum."

"That just shows how many vixens you know well, Carrots."

_I swear, he's doing this because he knows I can't punch him!_

"Look, Nick," she said heavily. "Just promise me something, okay?"

"Maaaaaaayybe," he responded, drawing out the word in an obnoxious drawl. "Depends what the something is."

Wincing, uncertain how he'd take this, she went for it. "Promise me you'll talk to someone else too?" she asked hopefully. "I know you've probably not been opening up to your classmates but you really need to try and make some friends."

"Carrots," he began, a hint of warning in his voice.

"Look, please!" she interrupted. "I know you don't want to, I know you don't like opening up." She hesitated, then ploughed on. "It's just, I'm worried," she admitted.

"Worried?" he asked, confusion clear in his voice.

"Yeah. Worried that you might not be telling me everything just to not upset me."

"Carrots," he began, an edge of anger creeping into his tone.

"Look, I _know_ you trust me," she said quickly. "But please! It'd make me feel better if I knew there was someone else you could talk to. _Just in case_ there's something about me. I really do believe that you trust me, Nick, but I also know how guarded you can be."

"Judy." His voice was soft again, without the edge it held a moment ago. "I told you, my walls are just crappy old fences around you. Even if I was trying to hide something I know you'd pick up on it."

She sniffed, her eyes stinging again. "Nick please," she begged. "It's not just for that either. What if I mess up again? What if I really _do_ do something awful again and you need to talk to someone about it? As much as I'm honoured that you chose to open up to me, that you trust me, of all mammals, you need someone else to turn to, just in case." Biting her lip for a moment, she lowered her eyes to the roof she was sitting on. "In case I screw up," she finished dejectedly.

He was silent for a moment. "Okay, Judy." His tone was odd, as though he were trying to be serious and light-hearted at the same time. "This is exactly what I mean, by the way. That you know me well enough to say exactly what you needed to to convince me to do this is proof of just how easily you get past my walls." He paused, then sighed dramatically. "Fine," he conceded. Judy had to squash the appallingly inappropriate impulse to snicker as she pictured him gesturing and bowing extravagantly in defeat. "I will talk to someone else if it'll reassure you."

"Thank you, Nick," she said thickly, putting as much sincerity into her words as she could.

"You know I'm only doing this because it's you asking, right?"

She chuckled weakly. "Yeah, Slick, I know." A pause, searching for something better to say. "Thank you." Then, because she couldn't help herself, she prodded the snark monster one last time. "You need to make some friends at the academy anyway."

"And what makes you think I haven't been making friends here, hmm?" he shot back.

"Nick, it's you. Also you're making a huge deal about opening up to someone else, even a little bit. I'm sure you already know every single cadet, and how you'd hustle them, but I don't think any are really friends, are they?"

A moment's silence. Then, "Fine. I suppose I should get to know some of these bozos anyway," he griped. "Since I could well be working with some of them."

A small snort of laughter escaped her. "Nick! You shouldn't be so rude about mammals you don't really know," she chided.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." There was a faint creaking in the background as he paused. "Thank you, Judy," he began slowly. "Thank you for talking to me, and thank you for laughing, even if it was from embarrassing me."

_Thank you for laughing? What?_

"But enough of that. We've both got to be up soon."

"Yeah," she agreed softly. "Please don't forget your promise, Nick. It really means a lot that you trust me and that you're as open as you are with me, but please. I just want to know you have someone else to turn to."

"I promise, Judy," he responded just as softly. "I promise I'll talk to someone else here and that I'll try to make some friends."

"Thank you."

"Goodnight, Judy."

She shivered as he used her real name again. "Goodnight, Slick. And thanks for talking to me. Catch ya later, yeah?"

"Yeah, usual time."

"Speak to you later, then. Bye."

"Bye."

There was a faint click as Judy pulled her phone away from her ear. She hugged it to her chest, unwilling to move for the moment, thoughts swirling. _He really trusts me._ The wind was whistling softly as it threaded its way through the nearby buildings. _I hope I helped him._ She winced at that, still a little guilty for making him comfort her when he'd called to be comforted himself. _I wonder what his classmates are like?_ She was uncomfortably aware how bad subtle specism could be. The instructors wouldn't tolerate anything blatant, but there were so many ways to be hurt without it being obvious. _Have I broken his walls too badly?_

Another cold gust made her shiver. _Time to head back inside, I think._ Pushing herself slowly to her feet, she hauled the door she'd been leaning against open and slowly descended the stairs.

Creeping back to her apartment, she pulled off the hoodie and sweatpants and hopped into bed. Curling around her fox plushie, she reflected on their conversation. Nick hadn't seemed too worked up: was he hiding how he really felt or had she over-reacted? He'd listened to her without complaint and done what he could to reassure her. She snuggled against her little fox as she remembered how he'd admitted his trust in her. _I swear, Nick, I'm **never** going to hurt you again. I promise you'll _ never _regret trusting me._

Though she'd been sure she'd have trouble falling asleep when she woke, her mind began to drift into a doze. _Silly fox,_ she thought with a mental giggle as she remembered how he'd reacted to her blueberry joke. Hazily, she wondered if there was some way of visiting Nick at the academy. She didn't work every day of the week, after all. It all depended on how Major Friedkin would take it, she supposed. _Maybe I'll ask Nadine later,_ she mused drowsily.

She warmed suddenly and smiled happily at the feeling. _Nick really trusts me!_ Sighing contentedly, she nuzzled the little plushie in her arms, wrapping herself more tightly around it as she drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so, I _had_ planned to have this done before last weekend, knowing I'd be busy at the Tour of Cambridgeshire. Then I was only about two-thirds done by Friday morning, so that wasn't going to happen. In my defence, I had a complete first draft by Monday evening. Re-reading it on Tuesday morning was... disheartening. So much of the conversation was _off_. It wasn't completely out of character or anything, but it felt pretty wrong for this stage of character development. Don't get me wrong, I could have made it work. But that would have meant going back and re-working most of my carefully crafted timeline.
> 
> I'm still not absolutely satisfied with this, but I can't pin down anything in particular to tweak. I'm also conscious of wanting to avoid damaging things by over-polishing...
> 
> *shrug*
> 
> I guess I'll let you all decide how it's turned out - let me know below!


	6. Chapter 5: A New Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Sigh* What is it with real life and getting in the way of writing? Long story short, stuff happened at work and I had to stop writing for a week. Anyhoo, I am not yet dead and here's the latest chapter. Enjoy :)

Judy Hopps had never been late for anything in her life. Early on, her parents - already experienced at dealing with a fluffle of kits - made sure everything ran smoothly and on time. Later, once she was old enough to be responsible for herself, she refused to allow anyone the opportunity to put another barrier between her and her dream on grounds of tardiness or being irresponsible. And of course, heavens forbid she miss part of a lecture or class - that could be crucial, vital, information that she was missing out on! She managed this largely by turning up, with almost religious dedication, _at least_ ten minutes early for everything; more if possible.

Sprinting across the small park in front of the ZPD, ears flapping, Judy knew she wasn't exactly presenting the most dignified image of an officer. With only two and a half minutes until she was supposed to be in the bullpen though, dignity could shut up and take the back seat. Dodging past other mammals, she was for once grateful for her small size. Leaping up the front steps, she was immediately ungrateful for her small size as she found the main door swinging shut in her face. She would have cursed, except that would require concentrating on something other than running or getting in on time.

Eyeing the shrinking gap, she made up her mind. Bouncing off the side of the revolving megafauna door, she dove towards the small mammals entrance. Typically avoided as she had no wish to appear too weak to even open a door herself, it was a door that only ever saw civilian traffic. Fortunately, as she could see through the glass, there was nobody near it right now. She'd twisted her body as she dived and now landed partly on her side and partly on her back, sliding feet-first towards the door. Tired though she may be, she was conscious enough to know that head-butting plate glass - especially with the momentum of a dive behind the motion - would not exactly be a good plan. Wincing as her feet slammed into the unyielding surface, she tucked her arms in to her sides and rolled her head back, keeping it _just_ off the ground. With a bang that echoed in the large lobby, the door slammed open and crashed into the rubber soft-stop as she slid gracelessly into the building.

Leaping to her feet and determinedly ignoring every single mammal in the lobby - who'd all be staring at her of course - she bolted towards the bullpen. Not even noticing who she was dodging, she skidded to a halt at the door, stopped more because she'd grabbed the door handle than anything else. Shoving it open far enough for herself and darting into the room, she was relieved to notice that there were still nearly two minutes before Bogo was due in. Leaping into her chair with now practised grace, she leaned forwards onto the desk, panting heavily.

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Just outside the bullpen, two other officers were staring at the door, somewhat nonplussed.

"Well. That was..."

"Different?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Different."

Looking at each other, unable to offer more than a shrug apiece, the tigress took the lead, shouldering the door aside for both of them.

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Hearing heavy hoofsteps approaching, Judy took several deep breaths, trying to slow her still elevated heart rate and get enough oxygen in her bloodstream that she could stand at attention. Heavy breathing she could probably get away with; desperate panting and leaning against the desk like she was about to pass out: probably not.

Right as the second hand of the clock ticked vertical, Chief Bogo shouldered aside the door to the bullpen. The usual stamping and chanting chorus greeted him as Judy continued to steady herself.

"Alright, _alright_!" Bogo exclaimed. "Everybody sit." He glanced around the room as it settled and Judy could have sworn that his gaze paused for the briefest instant on her.

_Craaaaap! He's going to call me out for being a mess._

"Nothing major going on today," Bogo began. "Ongoing cases are ongoing, it was a relatively quiet weekend and there have been no major incidents reported so far this morning. Usual patrols." This time his look around the room was an icy glare. "Don't get complacent out there. Just because we've had a few quiet days doesn't mean today's going to be quiet too. Dismissed."

With a thunderous cacophony of metal chair legs sliding along the floor, the officers stood in near-unison. As soon as that scratchy screeching stopped it was replaced with the rumble of conversation as partners, teams and friends began chattering away once again. Although most of the voices were relatively deep, Judy still winced at the racket. Sometime big ears really weren't that awesome.

One of only a small pawful of mammals not to have left their chair, she looked around for Nadine. The tigress was leaning casually against the wall near the door, turning her head back towards the front as whoever she'd been talking to went outside. Catching her eye, the tigress offered a small, closed-mouthed smile. Smiling back, Judy waved in greeting before hopping down to the floor. Drifting towards the back, she allowed herself to move at the pace of the crowd, not bothering trying to squeeze through to get out faster. She'd learned early on that doing so both exposed her to more danger than she was comfortable with for the (small) amount of time she saved by doing that, and that it was pointless since she just had to wait outside for her partner anyway.

Reaching the back, she jumped up onto the chair in front of Nadine. "Hey!"

"Hey, Judy," the tigress responded. To Judy's ears, Nadine's voice always seemed smoother than other felines - at least when Nadine was talking to her. She could never pin down what exactly it was - or even if the difference was real - but it was nice to imagine that the big cat liked her well enough that she didn't allow even a hint of a growl to creep into her voice when they spoke.

"Ready for a 'quiet day'?" she asked, half making air quotes.

Judy's answering smirk was a little sluggish but she responded chirpily enough. "Sure am! Let's get going."

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Nadine knew something was off the moment she'd said hi to Judy. Sure, her hurried entrance and borderline parkour to reach the bullpen had been as unusual as it had been unsubtle but hey, everyone overslept occasionally. There was definitely more going on though. The little rabbit had been struggling to pay attention all morning as they drove around their standard patrol through the areas on the border of Savannah Central and the Rainforest District. Even the brief chase they'd had with a leopard who'd run a red light hadn't fired her up like that sort of thing usually did.

Glancing over at her more junior partner, she noted the rabbit's limp ears, her drooping eyelids, and the way her head was ever so slowly tipping further forwards. Clearing her throat, Nadine was about to start talking when she saw that Judy hadn't responded. Repeating the action, a little louder this time, she saw Judy twitch slightly. One of her long ears twisted around as she looked over at the tigress with a slight sniff and shake of her head.

"What's up?" she asked, blinking.

"You okay, Judy?" Nadine asked cautiously.

With a puzzled look the rabbit responded. "Yeah, I'm f-" she began before being interrupted by a huge yawn.

_Oh gods. Don't smirk, don't smirk!_ Nadine desperately ordered herself. Judy may not like the word but there was no denying that she was astonishingly, adorably cute. The way her little face scrunched up as she yawned; the dainty way she tried to cover the yawn with one small grey paw; the squeaky little sigh she released as the yawn diet away.

"Fine." The rabbit finished her sentence as though nothing had happened. "Why?"

Nadine looked over at her again, considering. In tiger culture, it would be incredibly rude to push further, especially given that Judy had tried to brush off whatever it was that was affecting her. _She's not a tigress, though._ Still, it was a big deal. To her it was the kind of rudeness that could easily - and permanently - estrange best friends. Her hesitation cost her though, as Judy's ears bolted upright and an alarm started shrieking. Twisting in her seat, Nadine searched for the source of the alarm.

"Broken glass," Judy offered, explaining what she'd heard. "There!"

Nadine had spotted it at the same moment Judy had pointed it out: there was a jewellery store not even a hundred metres behind them.

"Oh come _on_!" she exclaimed. "We're literally _right here_. Just how stupid is this guy?"

Judy flicked the sirens and lights on as they twisted back around to face the front and Nadine dropped a gear, allowing the revs to climb as she hunted for a gap in the traffic. Spotting an opening, she swung the big cruiser around, tires squealing, to head back down the street. Slamming on the brakes as she pulled over, Nadine spotted a small figure dashing out of the store and go sprinting off away from them. Turing to Judy, Nadine found the rabbit already jumping out of the cruiser.

"I got this!" she yelled. "Circle round and cut him off."

Not bothering to yell back at the rabbit, Nadine swung the big vehicle back out into the traffic, ignoring the tooting of horns. Ahead of her, cars, vans and taxis all slid around each other as they fought to give her space to get through. Shaking her head in exasperation at their antics - _What the hell are the driving schools and tests doing these days anyway?_ \- she sped down the street as Judy followed the perp down an alley to the left.

Quickly finding herself in a mental map of the area, Nadine took a moment to work out where the thief would likely try to flee to. There were no large public areas around here, no busy streets crowded full of pedestrians to help shake a pursuer. Letting out an exasperated huff as she realised how this chase would likely end, she swerved around several corners then slowed sharply as she reached the head of one of the more likely escape routes, just in case she'd been wrong or Judy had managed to force the perp away from what Nadine knew would almost certainly have been their prepared exit route.

Not spotting the slightest hint of either of them, she sighed in resignation then slammed her paw down on the accelerator. With a deep growl of barely contained power, the big engine effortlessly hauled the three-ton vehicle back up to an easy forty miles per hour - as fast as she could safely dodge around the other vehicles on the local roads. _At least I've got a spare uniform back at the precinct_ she thought, more than a little grumpily.

Braking sharply to a halt near a small bridge, Nadine hopped out of the cruiser just in time to hear a faint splash. _Ugh. Come_ on _Judy. You need to learn to be less reckless._ She sauntered to the edge of the road and down the side of the bridge with the eminently languid yet focused motions of a hunting feline. Looking through the arch of the bridge, sure enough she spotted the perp riding some kind of home-made raft down the large-ish stream. There was no sign of Judy - yet - but Nadine wasn't overly concerned. The stream might be flowing fairly fast but it was too small to be turbulent or to have dangerous undercurrents.

Eyeing the approaching raft, she wondered if it would be within reach from the bank. _Nope. Not comfortably enough, anyway._ Making a face, she jumped straight down into the water without further hesitation, completely submerging herself for a moment. Breaking surface, Nadine found the stream was shallow enough for her to stand and the current weak enough to resist. _Oh I'm gonna enjoy this,_ she mentally grinned. Looking up at the approaching raft, she locked eyes with the surprised weasel.

Slowly, ever so slowly, she allowed a predatory smile to stretch her lips. First the left side, then the right, her lowered gaze hooded and intense. The shock was fading from the weasel's face and rapidly being replaced by a look of concern. Unable to extend her smile further, her lips instead began to peel back, exposing her gleaming teeth in a dangerous grin. The weasel's face shifted from 'oh crap, busted' to naked fear.

Holding out a paw, she stopped the crude raft before it hit her. "Hi," she said brightly. The weasel swallowed nervously and opened his mouth. "One second." Looking past the weasel, she took a moment to look for Judy. She quickly spotted the sodden rabbit swimming determinedly towards them. "Did ya fall in or jump in?" she called in amusement.

Shooting the tigress a quick glare, the rabbit didn't bother to answer. She aimed herself at the back of the raft, either intending to use it as a platform to rest on or because she was going to try cuffing the perp in the middle of the stream.

Turning back to the cowed weasel, Nadine informed him he was under arrest and read him his rights. As she spoke, and the weasel realised she wasn't going to eat him (though she made sure to keep her teeth on show), his expression changed to a rather unpleasant - though resigned - scowl with his upper lip curled slightly into a small sneer. Judy climbed into the raft with the weasel and gave him a mocking grin as she shook some of the water off herself.

"Well well well, Duke. Been a while."

Nadine looked at her in surprise. "You know this guy?"

Nodding, Judy's expression became a smug smirk. " _Wes_ elton here-"

"It's _Weasel_ ton!" he interjected sharply.

"-was the weasel I brought in on my second day." Judy had ignored the attempted interruption.

Glancing at the mammal in question, Nadine raised an eyebrow. "As in...?"

"Yyyyup!" Judy chirped exuberantly, careful to pop the 'p'. "The one perp Ben might have eaten," she finished, emphasising the 'p's once again.

Dropping her head into her free paw, Nadine groaned. "You've been talking to Wilde too much."

Judy just shrugged, not bothering to deny it. "Come on, let's get out of here. We can finish this back at the precinct."

Nodding, Nadine moved to steady the raft as Judy stepped towards the weasel to restrain him. Though he couldn't be cuffed for his own safety, the last thing they needed was for him to bolt once they got closer to the shore. She'd barely moved though, when without warning, her foot went right through the plastic 'deck' of the raft. Before Nadine could say anything there was a rabbit paw pointing right at her nose.

"I'm good," she called. "Keep an eye on him."

Glancing back and forth between her struggling partner (whose right leg had sunk in to half way up her thigh) and the disgruntled weasel who was watching her with some amusement, Nadine did her best to fix a scowl on him to avoid laughing at the ridiculous situation. Then she noticed something.

"What the heck, Duke?" Judy asked in amazement just before Nadine opened her mouth. "A tyre and some old plastic bags? _Really_?"

The weasel gave her an insolent look. "It works," he grumbled. "Your stupid big feet is what broke it."

Rolling her eyes at her partner, Judy responded with a bland tone that nevertheless positively dripped with sarcasm. "Yes. Absolutely. It was definitely nothing to do with the fact that this stupid excuse for a raft is made of _old plastic bags_ which aren't meant to hold anything heavier than a bottle of milk."

Nadine held back the wince. _Craaaaap! Judy, Judy, Judy. You can't say stuff like that._

Finally getting her leg out of the hole she'd made, Judy carefully made her way around the raft to the weasel, sticking to the tire that made up the rim. Grabbing his upper arm, she nodded to Nadine. "Let's get out of here!"

Nodding, Nadine began to half wade, half swim back to the shore. The banks shelved fairly steeply, making it tricky to climb out while holding the raft as steady as possible. Claws helped, though not as much as some might expect given how soft the sodden soil of the bank was.

As soon as the rim of the raft reached the shore, Judy jumped back onto solid land, dragging the weasel with her.

"Ow! Hey, cut it out!" he griped.

"Really, Duke?" Judy asked sardonically. "You're being hurt by a little bunny holding your arm? Wonder what'll happen to your street cred when that gets out."

That shut him up promptly - thankfully; his slimy voice was already starting to grate on her nerves. While Judy spun him around and cuffed him, Nadine shoved the raft far enough onto the bank that it wouldn't float away in the current then climbed out herself. She resisted the urge to shake off some of the water - her fur was just too long to try that and retain any kind of professional appearance. Instead, she began squeezing out as much water as she could with her paws. It wasn't going to be enough, not by a long shot, especially with a soaked uniform. And the cruiser would smell of wet fur for the next couple of days. Ah well.

Watching Judy march the weasel up the bank to the cruiser, she saw the rabbit sharply jerk her head to the side a few times. _Probably trying to get water out of her ears,_ she mused. Noticing how little water was coming off her partner with each step, she snorted in exasperation. _Perks of being as short as your fur, I guess._ She nearly, _nearly_ shook her head before catching herself. That little head shake could turn into a much more thorough shake far too easily.

A minute later, as Judy closed the back door on the scowling weasel, she began to walk up to the cruiser, wincing slightly at the soft squelching of her own pawsteps. Judy turned to her as she approached with a broad grin, clearly pleased with both the excitement of a chase and the successful conclusion. Her smile faded as she saw the serious expression on Nadine's face.

"What's up?" she asked, a hint of uncertainty in her tone.

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"So, Duke, how've you been?" Judy asked cheerily as she guided the weasel towards the cruiser.

He shot her a filthy glare.

Paw on her heart, she dramatically exclaimed, "Aww, you wound me Dukie!" Smirking at his expression, she decided to carry on. "And here I am, trying to be friendly and say 'thank you'." That got her a confused look.

"'Thank you'?"

"You're welcome!" She chortled as the curiosity on his face switched back to grumpiness. "Sorry, Duke." She began again, more seriously this time. "Thank you for helping out with the Night Howlers."

Glancing over his shoulder at her, puzzled, he asked, "Serious?"

Judy nodded. "Yeah, Duke, I mean it. If you hadn't told us about Doug and the old underground station, who knows what kind of state the city'd be in?"

He considered that for a moment, expression softening slightly. He shrugged. "Not enough to get me off this rap though, is it?"

Judy shrugged back. "Probably not. But Duke, if you're honest here, if you help us out again, I'll talk to my partner, talk to my boss. See what we can do."

They'd reached the cruiser by then and Judy was reaching up to open the door when Duke spoke again.

"Fine." It sounded rather bitter, but Judy suspected that was (at least partly) an act. "Stuff's all in my pockets. You gonna uncuff me or feel me up?"

Suppressing a grimace, she stared at him, one eyebrow raised. He squirmed a bit under the look but didn't do anything else. Slowly and deliberately, not taking her eyes off his, Judy withdrew the key to the cuffs from the pouch on her belt. He hadn't tensed, hadn't looked away from her. As far as she could tell, he wasn't about to try anything. Still keeping her stern and somewhat sceptical gaze fixed on his face, she turned the key, releasing his left arm with a soft click.

Duke broke eye contact then, looking down as his paw darted into first one pocket, then another. In a moment, a small pile of watches and bracelets was on the ground between them. "That's it," he muttered.

"Alright," Judy said cautiously. "If that really is it, I'll see what I can do."

Re-fastening the cuff around his left arm, she pulled the cruiser door open and got him inside. Closing the door and hearing Nadine approaching, Judy turned towards her with a satisfied grin. Then she saw the tigress's face. Her own face fell as she had to crane her neck back to look up at the still-dripping feline. "What's up?" she asked. _Did I do something wrong? Or is she annoyed about getting wet?_

Nadine's jaw worked for a moment, then her expression softened and she sighed. "Look, Judy," she began, sounding rather tired. "I'm not mad at you, but you can't go saying stuff like that to a perp."

Tilting her head in confusion, Judy waited for her partner to continue.

"We can use anything they say against them, but that goes both ways," she explained.

Understanding flooded through her and she cringed a little at the thought of how that must have looked. "Ah. Yeah. Um, Nadine, -"

The tigress cut her off with a wave of her enormous paw. "It's not a big deal: little robbery, small-time thief." She paused looking at Judy sternly. "But you don't want to blow a big case by joking around when you're making the arrest."

Chagrined, Judy nodded meekly. "I get it Nadine, don't worry. It's just this guy, he helped in the Night Howler mess as well. It was just a bit of banter."

Nadine gave her a disappointed look. "Maybe. But you're lucky he probably can't afford a decent lawyer."

Judy opened her mouth to reply then got cut off by another huge yawn. _Carrot sticks!_ She quickly covered her mouth with a paw. "Sorry!" she exclaimed, mortified. "I swear, you're not being boring! Nothing to do with you!"

Nadine just raised an eyebrow, her whiskers twitching slightly.

With a sigh, Judy tried to get back to the topic at hand. "Look, you're absolutely right and I will be more careful in future," she promised. "But in this case it really is fine, even if Duke could get the best lawyer in the city," she said confidently.

Frowning, Nadine asked, "How'd you figure that?"

"I never said anything about the robbery or arrest so he's not getting off that. Then there's you: you can back me up when I explain I was being sarcastic. Then on top of that, even if what I said did get taken as an admission of culpability in causing damage to personal property..." She grinned evilly up at her partner. "I'd just ask him to prove it was his property, and not something that happened to be floating by which he commandeered to aid in his attempt to resist arrest."

"Hmph," Nadine huffed. "Maybe. But you can't do that kind of thing in future okay? Claiming you meant the exact opposite because you were being sarcastic will only get you so far."

Nodding, Judy conceded the point. "Yeah, I know. Won't happen again, ma'am."

"Okay then, let's go." Nadine indicated the cruiser with her head.

"One sec!" Judy exclaimed. She indicated the small pile of jewellery that Duke had produced.

Raising an eyebrow, Nadine asked, "You searched him already? And he wasn't hiding stuff anywhere inconvenient?"

Shaking her head, Judy explained, "No, he cooperated."

The tigress raised an eyebrow again, curious.

Judy shrugged. "I thanked him for giving me a tip-off during the Night Howler case and told him if he was helpful here as well then I'd talk to you and Bogo about going easy on him for this."

Nadine's face darkened slightly. "Judy," she began warningly.

Raising her paws, Judy quickly spoke over her. "I said I'd _talk_ to you and Bogo. Didn't promise anything else!"

The tigress snorted. "Fine," she grumbled, turning to head round to the driver's side.

"He's small-time!" Judy called after her, a trace of amusement in her tone. "And he could make a useful informant!"

Quickly gathering up the stolen items and bagging them, she pulled open the large door and into the passenger seat. Looking back, she shot Duke a cheerful grin through the divider as Nadine got in. Turning an innocent, wide-eyed, hopeful look at her partner, she grinned at her response.

"Alright, alright!" Nadine exclaimed. "We'll talk about it back at the precinct."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They made a quick stop at the jewellery store to take statements from the owner and two customers who'd been inside at the same time as the weasel and to collect a copy of the security camera footage. Clearly the weasel wasn't the sharpest knife in the block. Getting back into the cruiser, Nadine couldn't help but needle his ineptitude.

"So not only does he rob a jewellery store," she said casually to Judy. "But he robs it with a police cruiser right outside."

Judy threw her a quick smirk then glanced over her shoulder into the back.

" _And_ he does it with three witnesses right there in the same room," she offered, only then turning back to Nadine.

" _And_ he does it with security cameras right there." She paused to grin back at Judy. " **And** he doesn't do anything to hide from them or try to get the tapes."

They both kept straight faces for a moment longer then Judy let out a small snorting laugh which degenerated into giggles as Nadine chuckled heartily.

Turning back to face the weasel, Judy stopped giggling for long enough to ask, "Hey, Duke? You knew the cameras were there right? That there were cameras in a _jewellery store_?"

Nadine couldn't make out what the muttered reply actually meant, but judging by Judy's peals of laughter, her own renewed and freshly strengthened chuckling was an appropriate enough response.

Back at the precinct they sat the weasel down in one of the free interview rooms and left him there to stew while they went to change and nipped out for a quick lunch at O'Neill's, the diner just round the corner. Being so close to the precinct, it was a favourite of most of the officers - a status helped by a generous first-responders discount. Walking in, still a little damp, Nadine spotted McHorn, Bill Hooveton and their partners munching away. The six officers exchanged nods as Nadine and Judy went over to the counter, everyone acknowledging each other in friendly silence.

A few minutes later, as she was finishing her tiger-sized chicken super-sandwich (the ex-military owner had a thing for punctuation, and that included hyphenating everything he could), Nadine couldn't help the slightly mischievous grin that developed as she watched Judy racing to finish her junglle sallad (the owner also had a thing about people misspelling his name and took every opportunity to rub it in mammals' faces that it was spelt with two 'l's).

"You know," she began, the smugness on her face spilling into her voice. "My sandwich was quite a lot-" She stopped as Judy raised a finger.

"Yeah, bigger," Judy completed after she finished her rapid chewing. "So's your mouth."

Nadine raised an eyebrow at the quick glare that Judy sent her way as she spoke.

"More importantly", the rabbit continued, "it's bigger compared to your food."

She resumed her feverish attack on her salad, determined not to hold them up.

_Erm... Okaaaay._ "My mouth's not _that_ big," she complained after a moment.

Judy snorted. "Pur-lease! I could fit in there and still rattle around. That dinky little sandwich wasn't even half the size of me."

Nadine wasn't sure whether her jaw wanted to drop open or whether she wanted do a full-on double-take at that.

"And no," Judy clarified after swallowing her latest mouthful. "I'm not volunteering to test that claim." She paused. "But it is true."

_You are one_ weird _bunny._ Shaking her head in bemusement, it took Nadine a moment to notice her partner had hopped down from the table and was carrying her bowl back across to the crockery collection area at the far end of the counter. Grabbing her own (much larger) plate, Nadine followed.

"Come on slow-poke!" Judy called, already heading for the door. "We've gotta talk to Duke and I want him out of our fur as fast as possible."

Deciding not to comment on Judy's less than formal mode of address, Nadine simply followed her, asking, "Is his name **really** _Duke_?"

"Yup," Judy chirped back. "Duke Weaselton."

Catching up to the bunny as she pushed open the - for her - rather large and heavy door, they began the short walk back to the precinct, Nadine careful to shorten her stride so that Judy could keep up without needing to scamper. After a moment her partner looked up.

"So," she began, uncertainty clear in her tone. "About Duke..."

Nadine looked down, raising an eyebrow. "You really want to let him off?"

"No!" Judy protested vehemently. "I just... He could..." she trailed off, struggling to find the words she wanted. "He was useful during the Night Howler mess and he was a lot less unhelpful than he could have been today." She shrugged. "If we can get on his good side, he might keep being useful."

Pondering her words, Nadine took a moment to examine her partner more closely. She noticed even more clearly than this morning how tired the little rabbit looked. Her feet weren't dragging but she barely had the energy to lift them clear of the street. Her gaze, though focused as she thought about her work, was slightly lidded. Ears perked, though nothing like as rigid as normal. By this point, Nadine was fairly well convinced that Judy's chipper attitude was a front to hide her exhaustion. They reached the park plaza in front of the precinct and Nadine made her decision, moving around her partner and steering them towards the nearest bench with a quick, "Come on."

Once Judy had hopped up on the bench beside her, Nadine looked away, out across the small park. She took a breath then began to speak softly. "Look, Judy, I don't know much about bunny culture so I'm sorry if this is out of line but I want you to know that it's absolutely not my intention to be rude or disrespectful." Glancing at her, she saw the rabbit looking curiously at her, head cocked slightly to one side, allowing one of her not-quite-fully-erect ears to flop out sideways. She might have chuckled at the rather amusing sight but for the seriousness of what she was about to say. "It's kind of a big deal for me though, so could you... just listen for minute?"

Judy nodded, a slightly nervous smile, probably intended to be comforting, on her face. "It's okay, Nadine. Take your time."

Taking another, slightly deeper breath as she nodded back, Nadine mentally gritted her teeth. _Come on, just do it already! She's not a tigress._ The trouble was, if she were a tigress, then this really would likely completely destroy their friendship. "Look, Judy, you're obviously pretty tired... I know you said you were fine earlier but..." She sighed. This was harder than she thought it'd be. "Look, I just want to make sure you're okay," she blurted, racing to get the words out. "If you're having trouble... at home or..." _Aaaaand back to being tongue-tied. Come on girl!_ She couldn't do it though. She hunched over, her gaze dropped to the grass between her paws, ears flattened and tail flicking in distress.

There was a quiet, "Hey, Nadine," from Judy. She swallowed, unwilling to look at her partner's face, which would surely be a thin mask over seething anger. There was a faint rustling of cloth as Judy moved, no doubt preparing to storm off. Then she stiffened in utter shock as she felt something that had to be her partner stepping onto her thigh. A pair of small paws pressed into her chest, gently pushing, making her sit back. She wanted to resist - could easily have done so - but Judy deserved a chance to say her piece. Swallowing thickly as she decided not to turn her head away, her gaze met the rabbit's. There was no anger; only concern. Nadine blinked in surprise.

"Hey," she cooed softly. "It's okay, really. Calm down."

"You're-" Nadine coughed, caught totally off-guard. "You're not angry?"

The rabbit before her offered a soft smile. "Why would I be? It was just one little question, and a perfectly reasonable one from a concerned friend."

Nadine chuckled shakily, not quite believing.

"Can you try to relax a bit, please?" Judy asked gently.

Nodding, Nadine took a few deep breaths, focused on Judy's calm, reassuring demeanour. Slowly, the icy claw of fear in her belly thawed.

"Better?" Judy asked after a moment.

She slowly nodded. "Yeah. Much." A pause, still not completely convinced of what she was about to say. "Now that I'm a little more sure we're still friends."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Judy blinked in surprise. "Why on earth wouldn't we still be friends?" she asked in astonishment.

The big tigress she was kind of standing on gave a nervous cough that nearly dislodged her but didn't answer.

"Aw come one," she wheedled. "I wasn't gonna pry but that's just got me curious! Why would you even think that?"

Nadine stiffened slightly, her tail stopping dead in the air for a moment before the tip resumed its earlier agitated twitching.

"H- How much do you know about tiger culture?" she asked hesitantly.

Even though she was tired and far from the best at reading mammals, she could clearly see her partner was uncomfortable. "Hey, Nadine," she said, ignoring her question for the moment. "We don't have to talk about this you know." Chewing the inside of her lip, she decided to own up - a bit anyway. "I _am_ pretty tired but even I can see you're not exactly okay with all of this."

Nadine slowly shook her great head. "No. We... We probably should have kind of had this talk a while back to be honest."

Judy patted her shoulder reassuringly. "If you're sure," she offered. When Nadine nodded she stepped back, out of the tigress's lap and sat against the bench armrest. "Okay then, to answer your question, not much," she admitted. "I picked up a bit from being around predators and there was a smattering of it in the criminology modules at uni, but that was more focused on criminal behaviour than real culture stuff."

Nadine had turned to face her as she retreated and now she spoke; more confidently than before, but still off-balance. "Okay so tiger culture is pretty complicated - though I guess most are when you get into all the details," she interrupted herself. With a quick shake of her head she got back on track. "Anyway, the main thing here is that for us, respect really is key."

Not wanting to interrupt, Judy nevertheless tilted her head, a curious expression on her face. Sure enough her partner picked up on the unspoken prompt.

"Right, how does that fit in to all this? Well... Social dynamics can be a bit of a minefield for us but the cardinal rules all come down to respect." She paused, levelling a serious gaze at Judy. "Lack of respect or deliberate disrespect are the easiest ways to tear apart any kind of relationship."

Still frowning curiously, Judy felt her nose twitching as she tried to process the tigress's words. There were still too many pieces missing for her to assemble a complete picture though.

"So I was... worried about asking that question," Nadine continued, hesitance creeping back in to her voice, "because prying is disrespectful." She looked down again, a mix of guilt and embarrassment on her face. "It means you don't respect the mammal you're talking to enough to trust their judgement on whether they need help. It means you don't think they're mature enough to look after themselves." She looked back up at Judy, her expression now mostly guilt with a hint of fear. "That you'd already brushed off the same question earlier just makes it that much worse."

Blinking in surprise, Judy took a moment to process that. Nadine had looked away from her again and she wasn't sure whether she should hug or hit the big cat. Getting up and walking the few steps across to her again, she settled for a straight-up mix. The tigress jerked her head in surprise as her arm was swatted then wrapped in a pair of small but deceptively strong arms.

Letting go and taking a step back to look her partner in the eye, she began with, "You silly cat," a note of humour in her voice. Her smile faded and she pushed as much sincerity as she could muster into her next words. "Thank you for respecting me that much. Thank you for valuing our friendship. Thank you for worrying about me. Thank you for asking."

Nadine gave her a slightly startled look. "You're seriously okay with this?" she asked nervously.

"Yes," Judy responded instantly and firmly, wondering what it would take to get through her partner's furry skull. She decided to try a lighter approach. "Bunnies are clearly much more sociable than you big bad hunters," she joked with another quick pat to Nadine's shoulder. "For us, culturally, anything goes, really." Eyes widening as she realised what she'd just said, she hurriedly added, "conversationally!" Trying to make sure she was being clear, she repeated herself. "Conversationally, anything goes as far as cultural restrictions are concerned." She looked up at the big tigress. "Personal restrictions do apply - it's called a _private_ life for a reason - but that's up to individuals." She offered a small grin. "I don't think I'd be comfortable talking about my school yard crushes and sharing embarrassing stories from uni with you - not yet anyway."

That wrung a weak chuckle out of the tigress.

"But even so, it's perfectly fine to ask me," she finished explaining. "I just have every right to refuse to answer."

Her partner offered her a small smile. "Thanks. That's... pretty reassuring." She paused, growing serious. "I guess we both have some learning to do, eh?"

Judy nodded. She hadn't been lying: her education _had_ exposed her to more varied cultures than most of the residents of Bunnyburrow but that definitely didn't mean she knew everything. It was a strange kind of relief to know that Nadine was just as uncertain about some things as she was. The tigress had one heck of an impressive record and everything Judy had seen of her in the field as they worked together only reinforced the idea that her partner was an exceptional officer. They'd only been working together since mid September - little over a month - but she'd already learnt a lot from the tigress.

Nadine was quiet for a moment then asked, with a little more pep back in her voice, "So, if it's okay with you, are you alright?"

Judy had to chuckle at her partner's caution, though she carefully noted that she'd probably need to tone down her own inquisitiveness. "Yeah, I'm okay," she sighed. "Certainly not having any problems at home - unless you count nightmares, and I doubt even you can help with those."

Nadine looked at her, curiosity plain on her face. Her jaw worked silently for a moment but she just couldn't bring herself to articulate a question.

Smiling reassuringly up at her partner, Judy let her off. "It's okay, you know. You really can ask me anything. I know it's probably really not easy but I promise it's fine. I'll just say if I'm not comfortable talking about something and we can move on.

Anyway, yeah, it was the museum again." She shrugged weakly. "It was... just a bit rough remembering it all again." She grimaced, not wanting to recount much more detail. "I ended up talking to Nick for quite a while before I got back to sleep." She stopped herself from continuing after she paused for breath as she noticed Nadine's jaw start to open.

"H- How... How's he doing?"

The question was simple enough, but Judy caught the subtext. Offering a warm, encouraging smile, she replied levelly. "He's doing fine. It's tough but then I don't think anybody finds the academy easy. That's not really the point, is it?"

Nadine shook her head. "No, not really," she agreed.

"But yeah, don't worry, I didn't wake him up to talk," Judy continued. "Turns out he was having a nightmare too and it was actually him that called me." She shrugged again, a little sheepish this time. "Nobody ever said the universe had to make sense."

Nadine snorted. "Got that right!"

"So that's it," she concluded. "I had a nightmare and a long talk. I wasn't up late worrying about bills or anything. I'm just feel pretty exhausted for some reason, you know? Kind of like one of those nights where you just wake up for no reason every hour. Even though you fall asleep again really quickly it just feels like you haven't slept at all and that you'd have been better off just staying up really late and getting up early."

Nadine nodded slowly. "Yeah... I know what you mean." She shook her head after a moment then stood up. "Alright then. Back to work?"

Smiling, Judy slid off the bench. "Sure thing, partner!"

Walking back towards the precinct, Nadine looked down at her. "You sure about Duke?" she asked. "The whole reason I was asking if you were okay was because I wanted to make sure you weren't distracted. You really need to be thinking clearly to make that kind of call."

"Yeah," she replied. "I'm sure. Trust me, Nadine, Duke's not gonna cause us any real trouble. I have no doubt we'll end up getting him for something every now and then but it'll all be small-time stuff. He's not going to get involved in anything remotely dangerous but he is very likely to hear about it as he looks out for his own tail."

"Alright then," Nadine said slowly. She flashed her a toothy grin. "So you wanna get on Duke's good side, eh?"

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Duke Weaselton was _pissed_. He'd been stuck in this stupid interview room for three quarters of an hour with nothing to do except glare at the door. _Stupid rabbit!_ he groused. _Damn fluff ball was supposed to be_ helpin' _me, not leaving me to rot!_

There was a noise outside, the sound of a key sliding into the lock. A sleazy grin appeared on his face; this was going to be _fun_. Plastering the darkest scowl he could muster on his face, he prepared to rip into the dumb cop.

The door _slammed_ open and that hulking beast of a tigress that had caught him earlier stormed into the room, a ferocious scowl on her face. The rabbit scurried in after her, hastily closing the door and hurried over to the table as the tigress slammed her paws down on it. She leaned forwards menacingly, forcing Duke to sit back against the chair, eyes widening slightly at the sight of a very large mouth full of very large teeth just inches from his nose. A low growl began to build in the suddenly silent room.

_Crap!_ All thought of pushing the cops around fled from his mind as his universe contracted to the terrifying reality of teeth the size of his forearms right in his face.

"Er... Nadine... Um..." The rabbit's voice was uncertain; maybe a little fearful too.

_CRAP!_ She _'s worried‽_

The tigress slowly swung her head around and fixed a glare on the other cop.

"Just don't go too f-" she was cut off by another low growl.

Duke watched her eyes widening as her nose twitched and she went stiff.

"Okay! Okay, you're lead!" she squeaked, holding up her paws in a gesture of surrender as she took a step back.

_SHIT! That bunny went after Doug and busted the mayors and she's scared?_

Then he had a face full of teeth again and no more time to worry as the tigress spoke in a _very_ angry tone.

"Okay slimeball, I'm gonna say my piece then you got five seconds to talk."

He noticed her left paw flexing and clenching as she spoke, muscles rippling beneath the fur of her forearm and a hint of claw peeking through the tufts around her fingers. Gulping, he nodded frantically, keeping his mouth firmly zipped shut. Mouthing off was definitely not a good way to survive right now.

"Hopps here thinks you might be useful," the tigress began bluntly. "I don't care. You broke the law. Several laws in fact." She moved back slightly and began to tick off offences as his heart rate accelerated. "Vandalism - or possibly criminal destruction of property, theft, resisting arrest." Her grin was savage as she continued. "We can probably wrangle assaulting an officer too." She raised a finger at Hopps as she tried to interrupt. "You're too good to have 'just fallen in' Judy."

The rabbit's mouth opened and closed a few times, paw raised, then she looked down and lowered her arm.

"I wonder if you offered to steal that stuff," the tigress mused. "We could hit you with solicitation of criminal activity for that one. Did you plan your little 'heist' with anyone else? Conspiracy charges'd probably stick to that... Shame we can't stack criminal stupidity and incompetence charges on too."

Duke was pressed firmly against the backrest of the uncomfortable metal chair now. This really wasn't good. Not good at all.

"On top of that, my car is gonna _stink_ of wet fur for the next week, thanks to your little stunt with that raft. So this is how it's gonna go," the tigress explained. "You're gonna start talking and you're gonna keep talking until -"

"Nadine!"

Duke had never been happy to hear another mammal's voice. The firmness in the bunny's tone seemed to surprise the tigress and he felt a near-euphoric sense of relief as her _venomous_ glare shifted to the bunny.

"You're lead," she said, not backing down an inch. "But I'm not going to stand here and let you threaten him like that."

The corners of the tigress's lips peeled back, exposing some teeth in a fierce snarl. The bunny shrank slightly from the sight but spoke again.

"L- look, why don't you... go grab a coffee or something?" she asked a little more timidly.

The tigress didn't move for a moment and Duke was scared she'd just ignore the bunny and come right back at him. Cops weren't supposed to hurt people but who'd believe a weasel? And the bunny'd be useless in a fight with the big cat. Eventually she huffed in irritation and prowled over to the door, not bothering to give either of them another glance.

"Make sure you have something for me when I get back," she ordered threateningly as she yanked the door open with enough force Duke thought it might come free of the wall. She stormed out of the room, slamming the heavy door behind her with a booming crash.

The rabbit in front of him let out a shaky breath and turned to him with a somewhat apologetic smile.

"Sorry about that," she offered lamely. "We got hit with some paperwork after bringing you in and had to get a very small, very quick, and very late lunch." She shrugged. "I guess she gets a little cranky when she's hungry."

Duke's jaw nearly dropped open at that. "A- A _little_ cranky‽" he managed to ask, struggling not to splutter. "Rabbit, that mammal is insane!"

"She's not that bad, not really -"

"Crap!" he cut her off. "Did you see how she was looking at me? I mean serious! Full-on proper _psycho_!"

"Okay fine," she sighed. "Maybe a lot cranky."

"You work with her? Like, every day?"

"Yeah. So she's a bit of an acquired taste."

Duke shuddered at that. "Don't even joke about that Flopsy! I swear she looked like she wanted to eat me."

"Okay, look Duke, she was pretty over-the-top here but she's also not wrong."

She looked at him. Was that _concern_ in her eyes?

"We've got you dead to rights on a bunch of charges and even if some of them don't stick the main ones are enough to put you away."

Duke swallowed at that. He'd spent some time in juvie and done some community service after being busted a couple of times for small things a few years back. That had been quite enough time for him; he had absolutely no desire to see what real prison was like.

"Give me something," the rabbit continued, oblivious to his recollections. "Help me help you."

Eyeing her distrustfully, he snorted. "You ain't helped me much so far. And I gave you the crap I took."

"Look, Duke, what you did earlier was great, it really was. And I appreciate it; you made my job easier: thank you. But look, the fact is all we've got is your word and mine that you cooperated. That'll be enough to make the judge think a bit before he sentences you." She paused and gave him a serious look. "Everything in here is being recorded. Give me something on tape, some real proof that you're helping us and I'll have a really strong case to take to my boss."

Duke's face hardened. "I ain't squealin' on no-one!" he snarled.

Hopps sighed. "I'm not asking you to turn anyone in. All I need is something about this case. Something we can use." She paused for moment, gauging his reaction.

He didn't say anything of course. The stupid rabbit wasn't going to get him, no way. But then that damn tigress had been pretty clear she wanted _something_ from him.

Maybe Hopps caught something on his face, or maybe she just decided to carry on. Either way, she turned to face right at the camera in the back corner of the ceiling. "You were read your rights when we arrested you but just so there is no doubt, this is for the record." She turned back to him, the action deliberate and officious. When she spoke her voice was clear and authoritative, her pronunciation perfect: each syllable carved from crystal and carefully placed in the air between then. "Duke Weaselton, you were arrested earlier today on suspicion of vandalism and theft at the 'Diamonds in the Rough' jewellery store on Lower Bush Street in Savannah Central, with an additional charge of resisting arrest as you fled into the Rainforest District. You are hereby advised not to speak further on the offences you have just been charged with. Anything you do say can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to legal counsel. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided by the state. Do you understand?"

He just scowled. This was such crap. He'd already had to go through this little routine back at the stream; no way was he going to humour her again.

"Mr Weaselton, do you understand?" Her voice was a little harder.

_She's not gonna let this go, is she?_ Shooting her a filthy glare, he nodded sharply.

"Mr Weaselton has nodded in assent. Sir I must inform you that for the purpose of this testimony I require verbal confirmation in case the camera view is obstructed or the camera is damaged."

Glaring at her, he was tempted to refuse. But then he'd been in the room an hour already. "Fine," he spat. "I get it. Don't have to talk. Can I go?"

She smiled. His eyes widened slightly at the look. It was far from comforting: it reminded him of Wilde's stupid grin except more... _predatory_.

"Thank you, sir," she said in the same formal tone. "So, you know what that was, Duke?" she abruptly asked in a much more jovial voice.

He shot her another look which just ran off her like water off a duck's back.

"That was you saying, on the official recording, that you understand that you don't _have_ to say a thing to me." Her smile was edging into plain evil territory now. "Which means _literally anything_ that you do say about this case, _literally anything_ you give me goes on the official record as you helping, as you choosing to help me with the case. Everything you say from now on is good for you."

Duke just sat there for a moment, more than a little stunned. _What?_ Could that really be how it worked? He began to wonder how much he could give her. Not that he was going to do it, mind, but maybe it was worth thinking about what might happen if he happened to let one or two little things slip. _Damn rabbit's sly, I'll give her that._

He peered at her. "You serious?" he asked, doing his best 'unconvinced' voice. "Anythin' I say helps me?"

She nodded. "Yup. We've already got the video from the store which'll be plenty to get you with the robbery and vandalism. The dash-cam footage from our cruiser will cover the resisting arrest, along with testimonies from me and my partner. Even if you confessed everything right now, this doesn't get worse for you. Anything else you say about what happened today can only help."

_Maybe..._

After a few seconds of silence, Hopps spoke again. "Okay, Duke, how 'bout this: I'll ask a few questions, you feel like answering then go for it. Otherwise you don't have to say anything."

He didn't respond with anything more than another scowl. Hopps just smiled back.

"So, let's start off nice and easy, shall we? Why'd you hit that shop? Just walking by and thought it looked nice?"

Her cheerful demeanour faded slightly as he remained stubbornly silent.

"Okay, fine. So something else is going on then," she stated flatly. "Was Nadine right? Do we have to hit you with conspiracy as well?"

"What?" he yelled, outraged. "You said this would help! Not give you more crap to throw at me."

"Give me _something_ , Duke," she implored. "You didn't say it was just a walk-by robbery so-"

She was cut off as the radio on her belt crackled.

"Judy, Chief wants to see you." Duke thought he recognised the crazy tigress's voice. "Head up to his office. I'll be at the interview room in a couple of minutes to carry on for you."

His eyes widened at that. _Crap! Not that crazy cat again!_

Hopps winced - in sympathy? Grabbing her radio she answered quickly. "Come on Nadine, give me five more minutes here. You know I can-"

"Nope!" the tigress proclaimed. "Boss wants you now."

She let out a little growl of frustration.

Duke blinked. _The hell? I didn't even know bunnies_ could _growl._

"Look, Nadine, cover for me, please! Two minutes. Just get me another two minutes."

Silence was her only reply.

"Come on!" Hopps wheedled. "Please?"

"Fine," the tigress growled after a moment. "You've got two minutes, starting right now, then you'd better be sprinting to Bogo's office."

"Awesome!" the rabbit punched the air. "Thanks-"

"Judy," the tigress deadpanned. "You owe me one. A big one."

"Yeah, got it. Talk to you later okay?" she replied, speaking faster and faster as she went before turning the radio off and shoving it back onto her belt. "Okay, Duke, you heard her. You got two minutes to give me _something_. The more you give me, the more I can take to my boss right now. If you don't, Nadine's gonna come storming back in here and carry on doing this her way, trying to find some way of pinning as much as she can on you. Come on. I don't think you want it to go like that."

He'd been chewing on his lip while she spoke. Facing down that tigress again was not exactly an appealing prospect. "Okay fine," he blurted. "Here's what I got." Speaking quickly, very aware of the rapidly approaching deadline, he explained how he'd set up on the other side of Savannah Central that morning. "Just sellin' some movies, right? Just movies I own. Nuthin' dodgy."

Hopps nodded reassuringly.

"Then this jackal comes up to me and I figure he wants one of 'em, so I start talkin' to him. Boring conversation but he says this guy who works at a jewellery store nicked his watch."

"He asked you to get it back?"

"Yeah. Gave me a hundred bucks right there and said there'd be another two when I brought the watch back. Also said I could grab whatever from the shop while I was bustin' his piece out. Said he didn't care about the rest of it."

"You don't have his name, do you?"

"Nah, guy wasn't that stupid. He was just gonna come find me next time I was doin' business in the area, he said."

"Okay, what'd he look like?"

"Dunno. Jackal?"

"Yeah, real helpful, Duke."

"What? Jackal's a Jackal. And he was a guy. I wasn't exactly paying attention."

Hopps sighed heavily at that. "Fine. What about his clothes?"

"Normal. Just like, jeans and a shirt."

"Right. Anything else?"

"That's it rabbit. That's all I got." He shot her a glare. "You better get me off this rap. And I don't want to see the crazy tigress again!"

"You got it. I'll do everything I can with my boss but what you've given me is definitely enough for me to keep Nadine out of here." She shot him a warm smile as she got up and headed for the door. Stopping just as she reached up to open it she turned back to him and spoke in a terribly sincere voice. "Thank you, Duke. You've been really helpful and I appreciate that a lot."

Then she was gone and Duke was left to wrestle with his confused thoughts. _The hell? I didn't help her that much. She playin' me? Sounded pretty straight..._ Apart from his mental discomfort, there was a very odd feeling of warmth in his belly. After a few minutes he realised what it was. It actually felt kind of... good... to be thanked. _Sounded pretty sincere when she was sayin' thanks..._ Nobody had thanked him for anything in years. Living and working the streets wasn't the kind of gig where honesty, sincerity and emotions got you very far.

Duke knew damn well that he wasn't the brightest mammal - the whole thing with the security cameras today kind of proved that. Despite that, he could usually spot when he was being taken for a ride. It was, after all, not a skill that could be allowed to dull in his line of work - not unless he had a death wish. Something about this whole situation was nagging at him and he didn't like it. Not one bit. _Throw in the weird feeling from being thanked by a damn fluff ball and this whole thing gets even more dodgy._ It was nothing he could put a finger on. _Still, if it gets me off the rap..._ Sighing and shaking his head, he decided he could probably live with it.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nick was exhausted. Completely broken. Nothing left in the tank. Having just eaten as much as he could currently force down wasn't helping either. Stumbling into the dormitory, he happily faceplanted onto his bunk - or would have but for the fact his was one of the smaller upper ones. Groaning as he hauled himself up the short ladder, he flopped down on the mattress with relief.

_Yyyyup. Am not gonna bother changing tonight._

Fishing around with one paw, he eventually found his phone.

_Augh._ Really _? Another hour 'till we normally talk? I am_ so _not gonna make that._

Deciding he'd leave a message if he had to, he started poking sluggishly at his phone. Better to make this call now rather than try to stay awake. To his surprise, Judy picked up after only two rings.

"Hey, Slick," she said cheerily.

_Damn, how is she still so chipper? And after last night as well._

"Hey, Carrots," he groaned. "Look, I know we were gonna catch up in a bit but I'm pretty shattered. Would it be okay if..." he trailed off, suddenly realising that he might disappoint her by asking to reschedule.

"It's okay, Slick," she said gently. "I'm pretty tired too. Gonna get an early night starting pretty soon."

"I'm gonna be honest with you, Carrots: you don't sound it."

Of course, that was when the curiously squeaky sound of a rabbit yawning came clearly through the phone. At least he assumed it was what a yawning rabbit sounded like. He didn't have any reference to compare to, so it could have just been what a yawning Judy sounded like. _Yawning Judy. Sounds like a crappy toy. Kind of like a bobble head or a nodding dolphin..._

"You were saying?" He could just picture the smug little grin on her face. Not as good as his own, never mind his hustler's smirk, but it still packed a punch.

Shaking his head to chase away the dreamy, irrelevant nonsense, he forced a grin of his own onto his face. "Look, Carrots, I'm - and you should savour this 'cos I don't think I've ever said this before in my life - I'm too tired to-" He was cut off by a huge yawn of his own. The monstrous thing just _took over_ and he was helpless to the point his eyes watered slightly and the paw not holding his phone twitched as the yawn reached its apex.

He sniffed and shook his head quickly, trying to clear it. There was a muffled giggle in his ear. _Oh crap._ His eyes widened and he instinctively pressed his ears flat against his skull in embarrassment as he realised that he'd let out a little whine as he came down from the peak of his yawn. There was a muted sound from his phone so he sighed and forced his ears forwards again, rubbing the top of his head sheepishly.

"-ick? You still there?"

"Yeah, Carrots, I'm still alive."

She giggled again. "Look, sounds like we both need to get some sleep so how about we catch up tomorrow instead?"

"No argument from me, Fluff."

"Alright. Goodnight, Nick," she said softly.

"Night, Carrots," he responded in a similarly quiet voice. "Sleep well."

"You too, Slick," she finished.

There was a soft click as the call ended. Nick pulled his phone away from his ear and smiled sleepily at the picture on his lock screen. Thanks to his height advantage, he'd managed to take the photo without Judy noticing what he was doing. She'd been talking and walking, being her usual animated self, when he'd spotted a perfect opportunity to use a shop window as an impromptu mirror. Getting the angle right had been tricky but the result was truly excellent.

Shuffling backwards slightly so that his head was properly on the pillow, Nick placed his phone on the small shelf to the side of the bunk and lay back. He closed his eyes, a faint, drowsy smile stretching his lips. On the shelf, Judy smiled happily up at the ceiling. She looked as though she was dressed in deep purple robes like some sort of cross between a wizard and an empress, her striking amethyst eyes sparkling. The mystical, otherworldly, fantastical image only strengthened by the sun's reflected glare looking almost like a fireball in her raised paw.

The smug fox behind her and the fake bunny ears she was sporting, courtesy of an orange paw, only made it that much better.

The hall outside the dorm filled with the soft sounds of other tired mammals quietly talking and groaning as they headed for bed. Shifting slightly to bury his ears further into the pillow, Nick was asleep moments later, just as the image faded into darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh wow. Friggin' Python. Seriously. I **HATE** that language. One small change, that should have been absolutely fine, caused everything to explode for the most hideously stupid reasons. It's like the language designers were trying to create something that is violently allergic to most sane things. Oh and of course, trying to fix the problems it caused in the sensible way doesn't work for even more stupid reasons. /rant  
>  Spending an entire week working late (not leaving the office until 7 or 8 in the evening) is not inherently a bad thing. Needing to do that because management decided to use Python for this project "because it's the one language that will be hated equally by the Windows and Linux/Mac teams" _is_ a bad thing.
> 
> Screw Python man, screw Python.
> 
> TL; DR or if you're not a programmer: I wrote some code; it broke; I had to work late for a week to fix things.


	7. Chapter 6: Dies Glaciem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writer's block: check. Long chapter: check. Hard chapter to write: check. Crazy couple of weeks at work: check. Locking myself out of my flat: check. Admin department cock-ups of the highest order: check. Horrible, depressing weather: check. Brutal ambush by savage plot bunnies: check.
> 
> I swear I'm just the universe's punching bag at the moment. Hopefully it'll stop soon and I can get back to something resembling a sane schedule.
> 
> *glances in rear view mirror*
> 
> Must write faster, must write faster!
> 
> *camera pans around*
> 
> *rapidly growing cliff of plot bunnies groans and shifts, threatening to collapse like a cresting tsunami*

Nearly ten hours. That _should_ have been enough. That should have been _plenty_! Groaning and squinting with freshly renewed hatred at the stinging light flooding the room, Nick brought an arm up and rubbed his eyes against the back of it. Still squinting, he sat up tiredly, blinking. He yawned and stretched as the now thoroughly familiar chorus of creaking beds and grumbling mammals built.

Though it was supremely tempting, especially given how tough yesterday had been and how tough he expected today to be, he managed to resist the temptation to curl back up under the blankets. While not exactly being averse to an early start - some of his old hustles had needed things to be set up before most mammals were up and about, after all - his normal idea of early didn't exactly match up with the academy's idea of early. _Or maybe it's just that stupid polar bear's idea of early._

Sliding gracelessly from the bed, he managed to avoid colliding with Tony (the lion who had the bunk below him) as he dropped to the floor. Stumbling near-drunkenly towards the small wardrobe with his stuff in it, he didn't bother holding back another yawn. _It should be illegal to wake mammals up this e-_ He mentally froze as he reached for the wardrobe door as he realised that the monstrous yawn just now had wrung a small whine from him. Checking around as carefully as he could without making it obvious, he nearly sighed in relief as he saw that none of the other occupants of the dormitory were paying him any more attention than normal.

Grabbing a fresh set of clothes - nothing fancy, just the usuals including ZPA-branded workout gear - he turned and shambled back towards his bunk. Although there were privacy screens around the wardrobes and the feet of some of the beds, it had quickly become apparent that one of the dormitory's unspoken rules that those were reserved for the larger mammals who took the lower bunks. Smaller denizens were expected to make do with the privacy afforded by their bunks being above eye-level for just about everyone else.

Climbing the short ladder to his bunk, Nick draped most of the clothes he'd retrieved across the topmost rung. A few seconds of awkward wriggling later and he hopped down, somewhat more gracefully this time. He rubbed at his face and spent a minute stretching more thoroughly than was possible in bed. Turning to the clothes he'd left on the bunk ladder, he began to pull them on. _Still got what, maybe five minutes? Enough time to grab a drink before-_

"Ow!"

"Ugh, crap. You okay Wilde?" Tony asked.

Wincing, he gave his tail a little wave. "Yeah, I'm good Bigfoot," he replied as casually as he could manage. This was far from the first incident but he still wasn't certain of the motivation behind them. A couple of his fellow cadets seemed to be steeped in good old-fashioned specism, taking umbrage with him simply for being a fox. The banter with Tony had gotten a little pointed a couple of times, though nothing worse than what you might expect in a bar after a few drinks. Two weeks should have been plenty for him to get a read on these mammals but with the constant distraction of training he was yet to pin them all down.

The lion snorted, opened his mouth to retort and was cut off by a yawn of his own.

_Whoa..._ While he'd seen more than his fair share of stuff over the last twenty years, Nick had never quite had as up-close-and-personal a look at the maw of an adult lion as he was getting now. _Note to self, watch the yawning around Carrots!_ He held back a shiver. _Definitely enough room for my whole head and then some,_ he mused.

"Seriously, man, it's okay," he said as Tony finally closed his jaws, deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. "Stupid place to leave a tail lying around I guess." His tail _had_ been draped on the floor right in the line that Tony would naturally take from the edge of the privacy screen to the head of his bunk, after all.

Tony grunted at that, half amused and half exasperated. Returning his acknowledging nod, Nick reached up to his bunk and grabbed the pair of freshly discarded boxers before making his way to the door. He paused only long enough to drop them into the laundry bin then shuffled down the hall towards the cafeteria.

A glass or two of fresh, _cold_ water later (along with a not-strictly-supposed-to-do-that rinse of his face in one of the prep area sinks) and he was waiting outside the accommodation block, just about ready to go. _Uh huh. Yeah. Ready._ Everyone else was either already there or just arriving, a few without good night vision stumbling around comically. _Look at us,_ he thought to himself, all sleep-deprived snark. _Us bunch of muppets trying to become cops. And we're all crazy enough to be here before quarter to six._

Eighty-two seconds later Major Friedkin called them to attention.

"Very good, kits," she began in that overly loud, borderline sarcastic tone beloved of drill sergeants and former drill sergeants. "Normally I expect one or two to just be joining us around now, but you're all here on time, even after yesterday." She glanced imperiously along the lines they'd grouped up in. "Keep it up and you might just make it."

_Well that is high praise,_ Nick snarked to himself. More than just allowing him an outlet that wouldn't result in more laps of something unpleasantly large, it was a reminder of where he'd come from, of what he'd been before a little grey ball of fluff had turned his life inside out and started him on the path that led here. No way was he going to let her down. No gods-damned way.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An hour and a half later, as he dragged himself back into the cafeteria for breakfast, Nick could barely grunt an acknowledgement at Sam as she somehow mustered the energy to say - _to **say**_ good morning. The morning workout hadn't changed - it was still a warm-up, a run, some stretches and some simple strength exercises like press-ups - but it had felt so much harder thanks to the fatigue from yesterday. Trudging up to the counter and suppressing a groan as he rolled his shoulders and neck, he grabbed a tray and followed his nose more than his eyes over to the predators' section.

Loaded for bear, Nick glanced dazedly around the large room for somewhere to sit. Most of the tables were already taken by various groups since he'd taken his time showering but there were enough empty spots for him to have fairly free choice. About to make a decision, he caught Sam's eye as she waved him over. Mentally shrugging, he nodded and made his slow way over. Sam was sitting with Gunther, a large black bear who seemed to have a scowl welded onto his face. Gunther lifted his head from his own food and grunted at Nick as he arrived.

"Hey, Guns!" Sam pouted, drawing out his name. "Be nice."

The bear just rolled his eyes at her overly-girlish antics. Nick chuckled as he placed his rather heavy tray down. "Don't worry, Sam," he placated. "It's a guy thing."

Stepping over the bench - which took an alarming amount of concentration - Nick carefully swept his tail out of the way as he sat down with a sigh. Sam just shook her head in exasperation. Silence reigned over their table for the next few minutes as everyone concentrated on eating. While he'd experienced plenty of culinary variety in his days - something which may or may not have been related to his rising and falling fortunes over the years - he'd never _appreciated_ a meal like these ZPA breakfasts before. A full-size dinner plate loaded with wafer-thin fried chicken strips, a gloriously thick veggie omelette and several thick slices of toast covered in a mouth-wateringly succulent duck pâté; made all the better by how hungry he was these days.

Nick watched his breakfast companions while he ate. Nothing unusual - breakfast was breakfast after all, and they were all predators. There was one thing that caught his eye though: Gunther's bucket of coffee. While he hadn't exactly been a big coffee drinker before meeting Judy, he drank it occasionally to help wake himself up if he had to be up early. Most of the time though he didn't bother: why _pay_ for a drink to wake you up every morning when you could just sleep in a bit? Despite his assurances, she'd still warned him about getting dependent on it at the academy. He could still hear her wonderfully cheerful voice admonishing him:

_"But Juuuuudy," he whined teasingly. "I can't possibly regularly wake up at that kind of time in the morning without-"_

_"NOPE"_

_"Caarrooooooooots! Come on, especially if I'm working out every day."_

_"Nick, come on, you can't."_

_"But Carrots! I'm gonna be a_ cop _! How can I_ not _drink coffee?"_

_She smirked up at him challengingly. "So mister fox, you're gonna be a hero super-cop?"_

_"Yeeeeeeees" he replied slowly, not liking the look she was giving him._

_"Just wondering then, how's it gonna look when you're on a late-night stakeout then the caffeine crash hits you and you face-plant into the steering wheel of your undercover car?"_

_"Um, embarrassing?" he ventured as her grin turned to pure evil._

_"And how are you going to explain to your very angry boss and furious partner that you just_ wrecked the **entire** operation _because you had too much coffee at the academy?"_

_"Whaddaya mean_ wrecked _?"_

_"Well, Slick, you just face-planted into the steering wheel at three in the morning. Face-planted into the_ horn _mounted in the steering wheel. At three in the morning._ "

"Hey, Guns?" he asked through the small grin the memory had kindled.

The big bear shot him a look then returned to his food.

"Aww, come on, don't be like that," Nick wheedled. "Sam calls you Guns."

Gunther just rolled his eyes again then lifted the enormous mug, taking a long drink. It was noticeably emptier when he set it back down. "You are going to call me that whatever I say, aren't you?" he grumbled in his deep bass voice. Though faded thanks to time, Nick still picked up on his accent. _Probably moved here, oh fifteen years ago?_ he mused, taking a guess at the bear's age. Nick shot him a winning grin and twin finger guns.

"Gods, you really are an overgrown kit, aren't you?" Sam asked rhetorically, shaking her head slightly at his antics. She missed his indignant look of mock-hurt as she yawned expansively, rolling her head to help work out a kink in her neck. Glancing over at the fox, she waited until he opened his mouth to pointedly ignore him as she closed her eyes and leaned back into a languorous stretch, arching as much as she physically could while seated.

Nick snorted and rolled his eyes, ignoring the posturing lynx, and turned back to the bear. "So, Guns," he began again. "Can I try some?" He indicated the bucket-sized mug the bear had been drinking from.

"Coffee?" the bear grunted. "Sure," he conceded, "I guess you're small enough I won't miss it."

Nick downed what was left of his water - tempting though it was to toss it at Sam - and reached over to Gunther's tray. He stopped sheepishly just as he reached it and looked up at the bear. "Uh... You ah, couldn't, um, kind of help me out here?" he asked. "I don't really want to spill it all over you or me and I'm pretty sure that's what'd happen if I tried to lift that."

Gunther looked down at him, raising an eyebrow. "You asking me to pour it on Sam?"

"Oh HELL no!" Sam cut in, ears snapping forward in alarm. "Don't even _think_ about it, Guns!"

Nick threw the bear a cocky smirk, feeling much more like himself now that he had some food in his belly. "Well... I wasn't going to say _that_ ," he offered, drawing out the final word with a smirk at Sam. She glared at him, drawing a chuckle from both males at the table.

"Careful, Wilde," Gunther rumbled as he poured a splash of coffee into Nick's now empty plastic cup. "You don't want to annoy her."

Nick grinned as he picked up the cup, gratefully letting the heat of the drink soak into his paws. Nodding his thanks to the bear, he couldn't stop himself from shooting an insolent smirk at Sam. "I survived being around a crazy bunny for a few weeks. Sam's not gonna be a problem."

The bear raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed. "A bunny?" he deadpanned.

"Craaaaaaaaazey bunneh!" Nick repeated, giving his best wide-eyed madmammal grin and waving with his right paw, waggling every digit. He frowned and wrinkled his nose as he tasted the coffee. Either he was still asleep enough that it was messing with his sense of taste or it was just utterly awful coffee. The bear-sized sugar dose probably wasn't helping either.

"Oh come on, Nick," Sam interjected as Gunther raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Hopps may be mad but she cant possibly be that intimidating."

The big bear immediately stiffened. "Wait wait wait," he started urgently. "You know Hopps? Judy Hopps?"

Nick nodded slowly, unsure why the bear was asking. Sam watched carefully, not having expected Gunther to react like that.

"Phew," he sighed, "maybe you might survive annoying her." He gestured at Sam with his muzzle as he turned back to his plate, clearly intent on scraping it clean.

"Hey!" Sam yelped indignantly. "You can't just leave it like that, what do you mean he could survive annoying me?" Her tail flicked in annoyance as she glared at him.

The bear answered gruffly without taking his eyes off the remnants of his food. "Did you check out the trophies in the halls and the classrooms?" he asked. "Did you have a look through the last few cadet rosters?"

"No," Sam answered cautiously. Nick stayed quiet, suspecting what the Bear was driving at though he hadn't checked those things either.

"Well, that cute little bunny -" Nick winced at that. "- was valedictorian of her class. She got top marks in just about every written test and was in at least the top three in nearly every single physical assessment apart from the ones that are about pure strength." He paused to shovel another fork-full of food into his mouth. "She beat most of those records from the previous three cohorts as well. That's not a normal bunny," he said gravely. "I'm not sure you could beat her in a fight, Sam, and if this creepy fox could survive annoying her I don't think he'd have any trouble handling you."

_Creepy? That's a new one,_ Nick mused. _Guess that whackjob grin was pretty convincing._

Sam snorted. "Come on, man! She's just a bunny-"

"I'm serious Sam. She was regularly wiping the floor with wolves. Her cohort was not a bunch of pushovers."

The lynx frowned, her tail stilling. "You seriously think she's that good?"

Gunther nodded. "She has to be. I mean come on, Sam, that bunny was valedictorian of her _police academy_ cohort, which included wolves, bears, hippos and elephants." He paused to fix her with a serious look. "She's already beaten a whole bunch of mammals that you'd expect to have every advantage over her and she's a full officer while we're just barely getting started here at the academy. I sure as hell wouldn't want to fight her!"

All conversation in the cafeteria was abruptly cut off as a near painfully loud whistle blast rang through the room. "Aaaaaaaall righty mammals," Major Friedkin called. "You've got ten minutes to get yourselves out to the east side entrance. I want you all formed up with a towel and a change of clothes." Silence reigned for a moment. " _ **Move it** , kits!_"

Abruptly the room filled with the scraping of thick wooden bench legs and plastic-tipped chair legs as everyone practically leapt to their feet and began to scurry to obey the Major's orders. Nick paused as he stood, realising he was grinning softly and that his tail had regained enough life to gently wag in contentment as Gunther praised Judy. _You go girl,_ he thought in satisfaction. _Not even a year since you came through this place and you're practically a legend already._

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"You're dead, bottle-brush!"

For once he didn't care about the Major's spectacularly annoying catch-phrase; he didn't care about the latest nickname. He didn't care about the water in his eyes despite the stinging; he didn't care about his fellow cadets struggling through the latest round of torture they were all being subjected to. No, there was exactly one thing in the world he cared about right now, and that was getting the _hell_ out of the water. _Holy... Argh, feels like it should already be ice! How is it still liquid‽_

Desperately striking out for the edge of the pool, he reached it after an excruciatingly long few seconds. Hauling himself out, he flopped onto the ground, finally understanding why there was a heated metal grate to the side of the ice wall: freezing to the ground after pulling yourself out of that horrifyingly cold bath would probably be fatal. Panting and shivering, it took just about every ounce of willpower he could muster to move when he heard Friedkin call out again.

"Come on, foxy, get that water outta your fur. You're gonna regret it if you don't!"

Groaning with the effort, Nick hauled himself onto all fours. Slowly, shivering more and more violently as the bitterly cold air cut viciously through his wet fur, he pulled off his sodden shirt. The air felt even colder without the shirt but he pushed through the discomfort and shook himself from head to tail as vigorously as he could. His fur tried to puff out but retained too much water to do it properly, leaving him looking surprisingly normal - neither slicked down nor overly puffed. Teeth chattering and still shivering, he managed to get to his feet. Hugging himself with both arms and tail, he stumbled over to the pile of towels and clothing and grabbed his. Safely cocooned within the wonderfully fluffy towel, he began to rub at himself as vigorously as he could, trying to both rid himself of as much of the remaining water as possible and warm himself up through the motions.

_Hooooo, b- boy._ Even his mental voice had chattering teeth! _N- Now I... understand w- why they f- f- fork out for s- s- such n- nice towels._ He glanced over at Tony, who was struggling to make himself as small as possible. The big cat seemed desperate to fit as much of his large frame into the one standard-size towel as he could. _Heh, perks of being smaller I guess._ Part of him did wonder why they didn't down-size the towels for smaller mammals - the suffering was character building, right?

He was snapped from his musing by the heavy stomp of his tormentor. Still shivering too much to make a coherent and snappy quip, he opted to look up at her in silence, still rather water-logged tail drooping to lay on the cold ground. She glared at him for a moment then abruptly took another step forward and took over rubbing him down with the towel. Nick let out a startled yelp as her significantly larger paws dramatically sped up the drying process, though at the cost of the increased friction tugging painfully at his fur.

"Wilde, you and Griffith run over to the cafeteria," she ordered nonchalantly. "Tell them to bring out the hot drinks." She stopped rubbing and Nick took the opportunity to disentangle his head from the towel. "Make sure neither of you is ever out of sight of the other," she instructed more sharply. "You're not in great shape and the last thing I need is one of you fainting and injuring yourselves, am I clear?"

Nick nodded, catching Tony doing the same. _Why us? It's not like we're the only ones to have fallen in._ They set off together, both quietly shivering inside their towels even as they jogged back to the main building.

When they got back they found everyone else had either finished the course or pulled out after failing one of the obstacles. The former were a very small group.

"Listen up, kits!" Major Friedkin bellowed, effortlessly capturing the attention of every single one of them. "For your first morning in the ice... Not bad." She glared around, daring anyone to look too pleased. "Not the best, not by a long shot," she paused for emphasis. "But not the worst I've seen either. Now. Anyone know why I sent Wilde and Griffith to get the hot drinks?"

"'Cos we're bloody freezing our fur off!" Natasha, an ebony-furred wolf called out.

Friedkin glared at her. "I said, does anybody know why I sent _Wilde and Griffith_ to get the drinks?"

Nobody said anything, cowed by the polar bear's frosty response to Natasha's quip. She grunted in textbook drill sergeant's contempt and shook her head. "Get yourselves changed into your warm and dries. Have a cup of hot when it gets here. And be formed up and ready to _listen_ two minutes after that."

The group immediately broke up as everyone, even the few mammals who'd managed to get through the entire course, scrambled for their clothes. Changing inside a towel was never fun, especially for the larger mammals, but it was better than hanging around in chilled garments that ranged from damp to sodden.

The drinks arrived; not coffee and tea as most were expecting but great steel drums of steaming hot and wonderfully strong orange squash. Nick felt himself perking up just from the smell: warm, sugary goodness that surely could only be topped by something like a freshly baked blueberry pie as it emerged from the oven. A few minutes later they were all more or less back in some semblance of order as Friedkin inspected them.

"So, now that I expect you all to be able to think again, _why did I send Wilde and Griffith for the drinks_?"

The assault course rang with the deafening sound of silence.

Friedkin raised an eyebrow as she looked back and forth along the rows of cadets. She snorted. "Looks like you lot are more brawn than brains. Wonderful." Her voice dripped with sarcasm at that last. She was silent for a moment then turned and began pacing up and down the line. "To answer my own question then," she began in a clipped, precise tone. "I sent them to protect them." Stopping sharply, her right arm shot out, one long claw pointing right at Sam's nose. "Carter. Where did they drop out of the course?"

Sam rocked back in surprise, ears flattened, as the large paw and intimidating claw hurtled towards her. "I um, ah-"

"Cat gotcha tongue, girl?" Friedkin prodded.

"Ah, no ma'am," Sam managed to respond. She took a quick moment to try to regain some equilibrium. "Er, the ice wall?"

Friedkin's glare almost, _almost_ , made Nick think that another dunking in that pool of disgustingly cold water would make him feel warmer than if he were on the receiving end of that look.

"Was that a guess?" the Major all but growled.

"Ah... Yes?" came Sam's nervy response. "I mean, I think most of us found that the hardest bit and I don't remember seeing them drop out earlier, so..." She trailed off under Friedkin's stony expression.

"I'll let that pass, for now," the polar bear grunted. "Yes, it was the ice wall. Anyone care to hazard a guess at the temperature of that water? No? Guess I'm telling you everything then. It's two degrees, on average, thanks to the heaters that keep it from freezing." She paused her speech to give them all a serious look, taking the time to meet each pair of eyes. "Water that cold is _lethal_. There are no ifs, no buts, no way out. Arctic-adapted mammals like myself can survive a hell of a lot longer than any of you but even we don't choose to go swimming in temperatures like that unless _absolutely_ necessary, and we certainly don't hang around like it's a spa."

Nick shivered. _Holy crap. Is she saying if I hadn't gotten out when I did I'd be dead?_ While he was a very knowledgeable mammal, he wasn't an outdoors-y survivalist. Sure, he'd spent some time living on the streets but thanks to the artificial climates in Zootopia it had never been impossible to find somewhere warm enough to survive the night - albeit rarely warm enough to be comfortable. This was an unsettlingly bleak assessment.

"Griffith," Friedkin continued relentlessly, "perfectly demonstrated why falling into cold water unexpectedly is nearly immediately fatal in over seventy percent of such cases." She gazed solemnly at the lion, whose shivering had started up again at her words. "Cold. Water. Shock." The polar bear let each word drop from her mouth like a hammer blow as she surveyed the cadets once again. "You gasp at the cold; you thrash around, trying to get out. Big mistake. Your gasp pulls in as much water as air, starting the process of drowning yourself. Your thrashing splashes water into the air, making it harder to get a clear breath, and at the same time rapidly burning through the remaining oxygen in your blood.

"This does not end well," the big bear deadpanned. "If you fall into cold water, do _not_ panic; do _not_ try to get out as quickly as you can. Stay calm and still; float until you can control your body properly. You will be cold. That is inevitable from the moment you hit the water and you can't fight that off. Accept that you're cold. Accept that or risk drowning yourself."

The crowd of cadets was deathly silent, hanging on their instructor's every word. For most, this was the first time they'd seriously, openly and honestly considered a life-threatening situation. For many, it was seriously alarming that this wasn't even a particular danger of the job they were training for, but something that could happen to anyone, at any time, completely by accident.

Major Friedkin allowed the silent, sombre atmosphere to linger for a moment before breaking them from their reverie. "Wilde," she began, more softly than before, "has a very different problem."

There were a few snorts at that, though the guilty mammals immediately shut up sheepishly as Friedkin threw glares their way.

"Who remembers their physics from school?" she asked briskly. "Who can tell me what the relationships between body size, heat, and cooling speed are?"

John, one of the two elephants in their cohort, slowly raised his trunk. "Er, something like if you double size you triple heat and er, like, halve cooling speed?" he offered at Friedkin's nod.

"There is a two involved and there is a three involved," she offered. "But no, that's not it." When nobody else volunteered she sighed. "You lot are just gonna _love_ your written exams, aren't ya? Okay, forget the maths. All you need to remember are a few numbers.

"Roughly speaking, if you double size - that is, height, width, and depth - you can store about eight times as much heat. You also have around four times as much skin to sweat through and release infra-red heat. That's why our elephant friends -" she gestured at John and Mike, the other elephant. "- have such large ears. Their bodies produce enough heat that the 'natural' amount of skin just ain't enough to keep them cool. Big ears are mostly big radiators.

"Going the other way, if you halve size, you store one _eighth_ as much heat and have one _quarter_ of the skin to keep cool with." She was silent for a moment, clearly wanting that to sink in. "It gets worse if we exaggerate the difference. Take me and a bunny. Let's keep it simple and say she's one tenth of my size. That gives her about one _hundredth_ of the skin so she loses heat about one hundred times more slowly than me. But her body can only store one _thousandth_ of the heat that I can.

"That is why Wilde was in trouble. He didn't panic when he hit the water and he got out reasonably fast. But then he lay there on the grille instead of getting his shirt off and starting to dry himself." Friedkin looked him in the eyes and Nick swallowed apprehensively. "Every _single_ second he lay there he was losing more and more body heat. That slows your reflexes and your heart rate. Everything starts shutting down as the body does anything it can to keep your core organs warm. Best case scenario: frostbite. Worst case: hypothermic shock, followed by a coma or death."

Nick's eyes widened at that and he shivered violently. _Oh gods. Is she_ serious _? Coma or death if I don't dry off fast enough?_

"For you larger mammals, you bears, elephants," Friedkin continued, nodding at various cadets, "it's not so bad. You can get away with pausing to catch your breath before changing. The smaller you are the faster you gotta move to keep yourself out of trouble."

"I sent Wilde and Griffith to protect them." Her voice was softer, less stern now. "They were both in trouble from the cold and that little run warmed them up a little; it brought their heart rates up a bit; it kept them awake. All important ways you can keep someone who's dangerously cold from coming to harm." She paused to look over the now exceedingly grim cadets. "Me and the rest of the staff can't always watch every single one of you. You all need to keep an eye out for each other.

"You see someone struggling in the cold? You get them dry, you get them moving and you get them warm. You see someone struggling in the gym? Spot them so they don't hurt themselves. Train with them to keep them motivated. Every single one of you that makes it through this academy will almost certainly end up working together at some point or another. You will need to trust your lives to each other. That is a habit that needs to start _now_."

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Lunch was a subdued affair. Aside from most of them still feeling pretty cold, Major Friedkin's words had been fairly sobering to all of them. That wasn't to say that the cafeteria was silent. It was just a lot quieter than usual.

Nick prodded listlessly at his bowl of tuna pasta, not hungry in the slightest. Sam and Gunther sat with him along with Charlotte, a zebra mare who was another friend of Sam's. There'd been a few attempts to make light-hearted conversation, mostly by Sam, but none of them had really engaged with the banter; Nick had been silent the whole time.

"Alright, that's enough," Sam snapped.

Nick looked up at her sullenly, wishing she'd have just left him to stare at his cooling food.

"Nick, come on, you've been in an actual life-and-death situation before," the infuriating lynx continued. "Why is this bugging you so-"

"Shut up!" he snarled. "I do _not_ want to talk about this."

"What do you mean?" Charlotte asked, looking between them.

"He-"

"Sam!" he growled threateningly.

She held up her paws defensively. "Alright. Alright, not my place."

"Oh come on!" Charlotte exclaimed. "You can't tease me like that!"

Sam shook her head. "Forget it, Charlotte. You're not getting that out of me, not if Nick doesn't want you to."

"And don't even think about bugging him about it either!" she added, pointing her fork threateningly as the zebra opened her mouth again.

Nick shot Sam a look that was half annoyed, half grateful.

Gunther sighed heavily. "Look, Sam, we're not down, not really. It's just kind of a slap in the face to realise how dangerous this job is going to be."

"This isn't even about the job, Guns," Sam explained. "That thing with cold water, the stuff yesterday about needing to be strong enough to hold onto the ropes and vines; none of that is about the job. All of that's just random crap that could happen to anyone."

" _Damn it_ , girl, that's the whole bloody problem!" he roared back.

The cafeteria fell completely silent as everyone else looked over at them. The big black bear snorted in annoyance and waved apologetically around the room. Slowly, the background murmur of conversation grew again. Once he was reasonably sure they weren't being eavesdropped on, Gunther continued at a more normal volume.

"Look, the fact is, we're all actively trying to qualify for a job that's damn dangerous. We're gonna be breaking up brawls, chasing people through traffic, and maybe even getting _shot_ at. To now have a whole bunch of extra stuff to worry about - _stupid_ shit like getting _wet_..." he snorted in disgust.

Sam crossed her arms and glared at him, ears flattened back and tail whipping in agitation. "Oh really? You think being a cop's all that dangerous? You gonna run home to mum?"

"Hey, come on, Sam," Charlotte interjected. "That's not-"

"What about me, huh?" Sam cut her off. "I'm not gonna be a cop. I'm just using that as a stepping stone. You think a cop's job is dangerous, what the hell do you think of TUSK?"

Nick perked his ears up at that, despite his mood. "Tusk?" he asked. "As in-"

"As in the best special forces unit in the world?" Sam challenged, lifting her chin defiantly. "Yeah. That's where I'm aiming."

Silence greeted her pronouncement.

"I'm not saying a cop's life is all sunshine and rainbows," she continued in a softer, more friendly tone. "But it's not as dangerous as you think. You're all getting so worked up about this and forgetting how dangerous just walking around town is." She looked around with a trace of contempt. "Have you thought about how some car could just not stop at some traffic lights? Have you thought about slipping and falling onto train tracks? Have you thought about getting mugged? Or how a tree branch could break off and club you in the head? What about a gas leak? How about-"

"Okay, we get it!" Nick exclaimed. He huffed. "You must be a real blast at parties," he snarked.

Sam grinned at him. "Oooh ooh I forgot this one!" she beamed at them excitedly. "Vacuum decay! Where the whole universe just spontaneously converts itself to energy!" She grinned round at their blank expressions. "What? I watched a few documentaries."

Nick frowned at her. "You serious?"

She nodded. "Can't remember all the details and I'm not really a scientist anyway but-"

"Then why were you watching what sounds like a _science documentary_?" Charlotte interrupted.

Sam paused, mouth open for a moment. "Doesn't matter!" she said, a little too loudly.

Nick grinned deviously. "He was hot, wasn't he?"

"Nope! Er what? I mean-"

Gunther chuckled at Sam's flustered backtracking, surprising them all: that was the first time any of them had heard him laugh in any way. Charlotte grinned in a manner that seemed far too predatory for a zebra.

"So let me get this straight," she began sweetly. "Miss big bad special forces commando is getting all worked up about some cute guy in a science documentary?"

Sam shrank into her seat slightly and didn't bother trying to deny it any more. The blush visible through her fur would have made that even more pointless anyway.

"Hmm," Nick smirked, stroking the underside of his muzzle. "Good looking guy, science documentary..." He looked carefully at Sam, watching closely for any tells. "Silky voice?" he asked innocently.

Sam's eyes widened slightly and Nick felt his smirk ratcheting up a notch.

"Ooh, that's _precious_ ," he teased.

"What?" Gunther asked, clearly confused.

Nick turned to grin at the bear. "I know exactly who she's got the hots for."

"No way, man. You can't have worked it out from that!" Charlotte sounded rather indignant that he, a male, had beaten her to the punch when it came to a girl friend's crush.

Nick smirked at her then looked deliberately back over to Sam. He opened his mouth slowly, as if savouring what he was about to say.

"NO! Don't you dare, Wilde!" Sam yelped, whiskers frizzing in agitation.

Nick closed his mouth just as slowly, the smug just oozing off him. "Well, that just about confirms it," he chuckled.

Sam growled at him, teeth fully bared and ears back threateningly. "If I hear one word, Nick, _one word_ , I swear you're gonna wake up with at least two rolls of Duct Tape in your tail."

Nick swallowed in fear, his eyes widening. He shank back in his own chair, his tail curling around his legs. "Er, look, guys, I'm all for pranks and tricks and stuff," he began nervously. "And, like, basically anything goes but not the tail, okay?" He looked around at their confused and curious faces. "The tail's kind of a big deal for foxes. There's a lot of cultural stuff there and no, I don't wanna talk about it. Just, not the tail, okay?" To his immense relief, they all nodded.

"Fine," Sam huffed. "I'll tape you to the ceiling or something instead."

"Oh come _ooooon_!" Charlotte whined. "You can't leave me hanging like that **twice**!"

"Sorry, Stripes," Nick smirked, "but it looks like me and Sam both have dirt on the other so you're not gonna be able to press either of us for details about the other."

The zebra pouted. "But it's not fair!" she whined. "You shouldn't know something about Sam that I don't."

Nick grinned at her. "All the clues are there, Stripes. It's up to you to put them together, junior detective."

Gunther sighed heavily. "I'm beginning to think I should just not say _anything_ when I'm near you, Nick."

"That is your prerogative, mister chatterbox."

The bear just shook his head and rolled his eyes, turning back to his food.

The rest of them shared a laugh, all feeling more than a bit better. Nick was still concerned but the joking around had brought him back into more familiar territory, allowing him to slip back into his hustler's mask, hiding his real feelings away safely. He may have promised to open up and he may have started down that road with Sam but this wasn't for them. Not yet, anyway.

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After lunch they were back out on the ice, this time learning the basics of adapting a foot chase to slippery conditions. Despite Major Friedkin's clear explanations - which all made perfect sense - and graceful demonstrations, most of them were struggling badly on the slick surface. To his surprise, Nick was actually doing fairly well. Yet another bonus that came with being smaller, his lower mass was easier to manoeuvre and carried much less inertia into corners than some of his fellow cadets had to contend with.

Panting, having just finished his second run through the course in six and a half minutes, Nick watched as most of the cohort struggled to stay on their feet. Only two mammals had finished before him: Grant, a stunning specimen of a melanistic jaguar who looked like he'd spent his entire life in the gym; and Tom, an arctic wolf who'd grown up in Tundra Town and for whom today had been a relatively easy ride. He winced as Gunther took a left turn far too quickly, his paw sliding out from under him with a hideous screech of claws scraping deep gouges into the ice. He fell hard, landing with a grunt and sliding for several metres.

"You're dead, brother bear," Major Friedkin sang out happily. Gunther just grunted as he hauled himself back to his feet. He stretched with a groan and massaged his side before reluctantly making his way back around to the last checkpoint to try again. Based on the previous run through, Nick reckoned he had about five more minutes to catch his breath and grab a drink before the rest got to the end of the course.

As it turned out, five minutes later only thirteen of the twenty mammals in the cohort had finished. Those still struggling through the final section were the biggest and worst suited to the treacherous footing: two elephants, three rhinos, and a pair of hippos. Eventually they all finished and Friedkin launched into another round of instruction which Nick mostly tuned out since she was basically rehashing what she'd said earlier. He was jolted from his reverie by the sound of his name.

"Wilde, Fisher," the big polar bear called. "Head over to the last checkpoint and give the rest of us a run-through."

Raising an eyebrow in surprise, Nick threw her a lazy two-fingered salute and sauntered back to the course, following Grant. They got into position and at a whistle blast from Friedkin, both set off across the ice. The Major spoke constantly as they ran, describing and explaining what they were doing, how they were doing it, and what they were doing wrong. It felt odd having everyone else watch him and even odder to have a running commentary. Weaving around corners and hopping barriers, he ducked left, right, left, left again. He nearly slipped at the next corner before skidding to a halt at the mock road and jumping to the right. Chasing a looping right turn that switched to a sharp left, he followed the curved zig-zag path through the last segment of the course. Ahead of him, Grant scrambled for balance at the final corner and Nick noted the path he'd taken. Reaching the corner a moment later, he took a deliberately wider line, avoiding the slick segment - mostly. He flailed slightly as his foot threatened to slide out from under him but managed to keep himself upright.

_Damn this was hard enough without everyone watching!_ he groused as he finished, panting again. _And that stupid commentary-_ His ears perked at a strange sound. _Wait. **what** ‽_

It was _applause_. Nick was stunned. Mammals were applauding him. That just didn't fit into his world view; it was simply something that didn't happen. He looked around at his fellow cadets, mouth opened slightly as every muscle relaxed slightly in shock. Sure, Grant was there with him, but plenty had caught his eye as he looked around wildly and nodded in recognition as they clapped.

Blinking stupidly, Nick managed to close his mouth. Then Sam whistled and called out, "Whooo! Nice one, Nick, that was awesome." Inspired, several other cadets hollered out various remarks, directed at both himself and Grant. Feeling a smile creeping onto his lips as his tail, despite his best efforts, began a slow wag, Nick walked over to Grant. The buff cat seemed unaffected by the attention and had already recovered from his run. He looked down at Nick's growing grin in puzzlement as the smaller vulpine placed an arm on his back, as high as he could reach, and turned to face the crowd.

Still grinning, Nick bowed theatrically, gesturing flamboyantly with his free paw while pulling on Grant's back. Turning his head to the side, he looked up at the jaguar and gestured with his head towards the ground. Grant snorted and shrugged off his arm, though he did raise his own paw to the crowd. Laughter mixed in with the rest of the racket until Major Friedkin called them back to order.

"Alrighty kits," she pronounced, "enough of that and back to work. I want you all getting this done inside of ten minutes by the close of play today!"

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That evening, Nick had to smile as his phone rang at exactly the moment the clock ticked over to seven pm.

"Hey, Slick," came the delightfully bubbly voice of his favourite bunny before he even had a chance to open his mouth. "How was your day? Feeling better after yesterday?"

He had to hold in a laugh as he could practically see her bouncing in her seat as she chattered away enthusiastically. "Hey, Carrots," he responded smoothly. "Yeah, today... today was interesting," he said slowly. "Better than yesterday, I think. I mean, I'm not so tired but I'm feeling fairly sore. It's going well, I guess."

"That's great, Nick. I told you you could do it! So come on, tell me all about it," she pleaded.

He chuckled. _Craaaaaaaaazey bunneh!_ he thought to himself with an amused smirk.

"Okay, okay," he said in surrender. "Gimme a chance to say something!"

She laughed and he couldn't help but smile. "Got it, shutting up," she said with a giggle.

"Aww, come on, don't be like that," he teased. "I'll tell you about mine if you tell me about yours."

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment then she snorted with laughter. "Oh come on," she groaned through her mirth. "Just how immature are you, Nick?"

He grinned victoriously. "Firstly, I'm the definition of mature," he grumbled in mock indignation. "And secondly, I didn't say anything, Fluff. Your interpretation's all on you, miss maths."

"Hey!" she squawked and Nick was glad for the sixty miles that separated them since he was sure that would have been accompanied by disturbingly strong punch.

"Okay, too far?" he offered.

"Yeah, just a bit, Slick," she said grumpily.

The use of the nickname relaxed him - she wasn't really angry, just playing the specism card to make him feel bad. "So what would I have to do to be able to get away with jokes like that in future, hmm?"

She snorted in derision. "Not gonna happen, Slick," she said firmly. "You'd probably have to be my boyfriend or something."

They shared a laugh at the idea. Nick was about to open his mouth again when there was a knock at the dormitory door. "One second, Carrots," he said in puzzlement. Moving the phone a little further from his mouth he called, "Er yeah?" to the door.

"Nick?" came Sam's muffled voice.

"Yeah, come in!"

"Nick, this is the _males'_ dorm."

He rolled his eyes. "No naked mammals in here, Sam. I'm the only one here and I promise I'm decent."

After a moment's pause the door slowly opened and Sam cautiously stuck her head into the room.

"Up here," Nick called to get her attention.

Spotting him, she smiled sheepishly. "You okay?"

Nick frowned at her in puzzlement. "Yeah, fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

Sam shrugged. "Just wanted to make sure. You kind of just vanished after dinner and you got pretty worked up at lunch so..." she trailed off, embarrassed.

Nick grinned evilly. "So you decided to come find me, all alone, for the second time in two days, this time in a communal bedroom?" he quipped.

"Oh. Gods." Sam exclaimed, facepawing rather extravagantly. "Why did I ever bother?" she asked rhetorically.

Nick answered anyway, unable to let an opening like that pass. "Because I'm just _that_ irresistible!" He rolled onto his side, leaning on one elbow and gave his tail a playful flick as he spoke.

"Ugh. You... You're... Oh, whatever, you're obviously fine," she huffed, turning to leave.

"Hey, Sam," Nick called after her. "Thanks - I mean that - but I'm okay." He lifted the phone he was still holding so that she could see it as she looked back at him.

She nodded, then turned again and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Checking the call was still active, he brought the phone back to his ear. "Hey, Carrots, sorry about that."

"Who was it?" she asked, the curiosity clear in her voice. "You sounded pretty flirty - found yourself a girlfriend already?"

He chuckled. "Girl, friend. With a space in the middle."

"Oh." He wasn't quite sure what to make of her tone and didn't have time to consider it before she was chattering away again. "So what, you've already started making friends? Gotta say I'm impressed, Nick. I'd have thought you'd be a bit more resistant to the idea than that."

"Funny story actually, Carrots," he began. "Sam's a lynx, probably one of the best in the cohort. Anyway, she spotted me going into the bathroom the other night to talk to you with some privacy and more or less ambushed me as I came out." He paused and smiled at her giggle.

"So that was the first time she found you alone, eh?"

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry, I'm not into cats so you won't be muzzletiming me and finding her any time soon." In the moment of silence that followed, he could picture her eye roll, accompanied by a slight exasperated shake of her head. "Anyway, given what we'd been talking about and since she was being a bit pushy, we ended up talking and hey, guess what? This whole 'friends' thing doesn't seem so bad. I mean, it's been a while since I've done it and I reckon I'm pretty out of practise, but it seems to be working so far."

Judy laughed. "First time I'm ever heard someone call themselves 'out of practise' at being a friend."

"Yeah, we both ended up saying kind of the same thing the other day," he recalled. "Anyway -"

Describing the past couple of days, even in fairly light detail, took over twenty minutes. Judy helped by not interrupting or asking questions - much. He told her all about the grumpy morning version of Major Friedkin who'd found him and Sam in the cafeteria, the morning of squelching through the mud of the rainforest course, the talking-to she'd given Sam and him over lunch, and the afternoon full of monkey bars, ropes, trying to make impossible jumps, and vines. She laughed and commiserated over his description of the course, giggling unashamedly at his comment that he'd spent most of his shower pulling mud from places he didn't even know he had, but seemed a little put out that Major Friedkin had chastised him.

"Relax, Carrots," he placated. "She's just doing her job. And it's not like I got detention or anything."

In truth, the talking-to had been very mild. Friedkin just wanted her original question answered: what were they doing in the cafeteria? Nick had explained that he'd had a nightmare and Sam had been worried about him so dragged him in there to talk. She corroborated his loose account and Friedkin had looked them over carefully. Finally, seeming satisfied, she grunted - textbook bear, right there.

_"Alright," she huffed. "I'm not here to mother you and you're both adults so I'm not gonna do anything else for now." She fixed them with a piercing stare. "But if either of you intend to make it through here, you're gonna need to take some responsibility for yourselves. It only gets harder from here on," she explained, "and neither of you is good enough to be asleep on your feet during the day."_

He skimmed over that morning, not wanting to dredge up all that crap again and made Judy laugh repeatedly with his comical descriptions of his fellow cadets floundering on the ice. "I'm serious, Carrots," he said with a broad grin. "It was magnificent! He really should apply for that TV show. You know, the one where they ice skate and dance in front of judges." Her giggle did nothing to damp down his own grin.

"Oh wow," she said weakly. "You've now got me stuck with an image in my head of elephant and a bear trying to slow dance on ice skates in the dark."

"You laugh, Fluff, but I swear I saw it happen right in front of me!"

She chuckled then took a breath to calm herself. "So what about the ice wall?" she asked.

Nick's ears flattened back against his skull and he shrank into himself. _Damn it, why'd she have to bring_ that _up?_

"Just saying the morning was cold and icy isn't giving me much, Slick," she continued. "And if you had the tundra chase this afternoon you must have hit the ice wall this morning."

He could have facepawed it was so obvious. Of course she'd remember what a day on the climate courses was like - it was after all, not something that he'd likely forget in a hurry. He blamed the lapse on being tired: although nothing like as bad as yesterday, he knew he was fatigued from two solid weeks of pushing himself.

Sighing, knowing he had to give Judy something, he admitted, "Yeah, we had the ice wall this morning." He paused to give himself a moment to figure out how much he could give her. "I think everyone struggled with it; only a pawful managed to get past the whole course."

"Nick," came Judy's cautious voice. "Are you okay?"

His eyes widened and he bit his lip. _What‽ She got something from that?_

"You're not bothered by not getting over it, are you?" she continued in the same soft, caring tone. "It took me a long time to figure out how to get past it, and even longer if there was nobody else around."

"No. That's not it, Carrots." He couldn't continue, didn't want to think too closely about it. _Just let it go, please._

"Did Major Friedkin give you the whole size and heat speech?" She chuckled. "I got called out pretty badly for getting to my towel slower than light."

"Nick?" she asked, worried when he didn't respond.

"Yeah, sorry, yeah. We got the speech. She even used you as an example." He cut himself off as soon as he realised what he was saying. _For gods' sake, man!_ he berated himself. _What is_ wrong _with you?_

"Really?" she chuckled. "Somehow I'm not surprised. She did that when I was there too. It does make her case rather nicely." She paused, as if realising something. "That's not bothering you, is it?" she asked abruptly. "Me being used to make a point?"

_Keep it together, she doesn't actually know!_

"Eh, kind of," he began evasively, speaking slowly as he tried desperately to think of a way out. "It's-"

"Nick." She cut him off firmly. "Come on, what's bothering you?"

He opened his mouth in astonishment but before he could say anything Judy piped up again.

"Actually, you know what?" she asked with a faint tremor in her voice. "I'm not gonna push. When- If, you want to talk about it, I'm all ears." She paused, then continued with a smile clear in her voice. "Actually more like half ears-" Nick couldn't help but chuckle at that. "- but you don't have to unless you want to."

"You know, Judy, this is what I meant the other night," Nick said softly. "I can't hide anything from you. All my walls, all my years of hiding things and you get to the heart of what's been bothering me since before lunch in what, four or five questions?" He shook his head. "You're an incredible rabbit, Judy, an incredible mammal."

"Oh you foxes," she gently teased. "So emotional."

That wrung another chuckle out of him. "Carrots, stop," he mock begged. "My fragile male ego can only take so much!" She giggled gently but didn't prod him further. He sighed and opened his mouth to 'fess up.

"Nick," Judy pre-empted him. "I'm serious, if you don't want to..."

"It's fine, Carrots. We've come this far, may as well finish off the journey."

"If you're sure," she said dubiously.

"I'm sure," he responded smoothly. _I'm_ so _not sure,_ he thought to himself as he took a deep breath. "So yeah, the whole death by hypothermia thing got to all of us a bit," he explained. "It kind of hammered home how dangerous the job we've signed up for is."

"Nick," Judy began gently. "It's not all that bad, you know. Most of the danger is no different to what you work around every day in the city."

"I know that, Carrots. It just... It was a wake-up call, I think, for most of us. It sort of sank in that we'll be deliberately putting ourselves at risk."

"And that's what's bothering you?" Judy asked carefully. "I have no doubt whatsoever that you have the courage and fortitude to face it all, Nick," she said with conviction. "You helped me on the train with Woolter and Jessie; you stayed with me in the museum. You are not a coward, Nick."

Nick felt his heart swell as she spoke, his throat thickening and eyes prickling. "Th- Thanks, Judy," he managed to say after a moment.

"You're welcome, Slick. But you should never have to thank me for telling the truth."

He sniffed, absolutely _not_ fighting tears. "Anyhoo," he managed after a moment, "that wasn't what was bothering me. I don't think, anyway. Maybe a bit."

"So what was it?" Judy asked hesitantly as he paused, allowing a gap to grow in the conversation, silently prompting her.

He sighed, _knowing_ she'd take this badly. How could she not? "It made me worry about you," he admitted quietly. Silence greeted him. "Look," he continued, hoping to mitigate some of the damage. "I know your parents are paranoid but this isn't like that, I promise. I would never ask you to stop being a cop." He chewed his lip for a moment. "It's just... I... It just made me realise that _you_ do this crazy, dangerous job as well, Judy." Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to finish. "I realised that you go and put yourself in danger every day and that... It bothers me, Judy." He swallowed the lump in his throat. "I just don't want anything to happen to my friend. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Nick," Judy began after a short pause, her tone flat and inscrutable. "You have no right to tell me what I can or cannot do." He winced, curling back into himself. "So _thank you_ for not trying to do that. You're right, I get enough of that nonsense from my parents," she said in a somewhat more chipper tone.

Nick blinked. _Is she okay with this? Why?_

"And yeah, you're right, I do have a dangerous job," she continued carefully. "But I do everything I can to keep a handle on the risks, just like you're being trained to. It's touching that you're getting all worked up worrying about me but honestly, of the two of us, _mister cadet_ , I'm the one who'll end up looking after you most of the time."

He chuckled weakly. "Okay, I believe you," he said as cheerfully as he could. "Now, enough of this emotional fox nonsense. What have you been up to for the last couple of days? You didn't oversleep after our last call or anything, did you?"

She giggled happily. "Not exactly, but yesterday was pretty interesting," she began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, this was a tough one. Like I mentioned at the top, it kind of seems like if things can go wrong, they are going wrong at the moment. I had a big charity bike ride this weekend. Then I found out two days ago that the charity had screwed up and I didn't actually have a place. Oh well, guess those months of training and fundraising were really useful then. I wasn't joking about locking myself out of my flat either. That was a fun two hour wait in the damp (it'd been raining).
> 
> Also, plot bunnies: what is _wrong_ with you‽ Seriously. Not only do I have the whole second half of this story now sketched out in my head (unhelpful since I still need to find time to actually write it down somewhere) but I've got some scenes that could be used to extend it (annoying because I shouldn't be thinking about a sequel before I finish the original - this isn't a Hollywood franchise more interested in profits than story, damn it!). Oh yeah, and I have ideas for not one, but _two_ separate Sci-Fi AUs. Watch out for a one-shot from one of those coming soon (I just had to get some of it out of my head).
> 
> Anyways, I hope y'all enjoyed the chapter. Probably wasn't worth the wait, but let me know. Comments are life, comments are love!


	8. Chapter 7: An Unstoppable Rabbit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this happened. I'm still not quite sure what it is that gets into my keyboard/computer/screen to make these chapters mutate like they do. Or maybe the story itself is kind of sentient?
> 
> In any case, we have a bit of a time skip here to help with the whole 'moving the story along' thing. There is a flashback/memory sequence too which kind of seems to contradict that point I suppose; I couldn't find a better way of doing it though and I feel like the time after the museum needs to be covered some more. I mean for crying out loud, there's the whole issue of *that* press conference for a start. I'm also kind of surprised nobody's yet called me out for leaving the 'past' story thread hanging with Judy having been turned savage.
> 
> Hopefully this works as a way to cover that material without getting boring or breaking the flow of the story. Please do let me know what you think! I wasn't kidding when I said this is my first bit of creative writing since school and I _really_ would appreciate comments and constructive criticism. I hate when a good story goes bad and if the flashback-thing doesn't work, if that whole 'past' thread is boring or something just isn't working, please tell me so I can fix it!
> 
> I should probably not write author's notes at midnight on four hours' sleep. (Should that apostrophe even be there? Meh.)

The door to Chief Bogo's office swung open to reveal a somewhat stunned-looking tigress. Judy all but bounced out of the room, a huge grin on her face. As Nadine slowly came out onto the balcony and closed the door it was all she could do to wait for her and not run downstairs cheering.

Nadine looked at the buzzing bunny, blinking owlishly. "That really happened?" she asked, half convinced she was dreaming. _But this'd be one heck of a weird dream..._

Judy nodded rapidly, ears flapping with the enthusiastic motion. "Yeah, it did," she said delightedly, though careful not to be too loud right outside the Chief's office. "Come on," she gestured towards the stairs.

Nadine followed her partner, whose antics were nearly succeeding at distracting her from the scene they'd just left behind. _Bogo_ never _compliments anyone. This has to be some kind of bizarre hallucination. Have I been shot?_

Her musings were brought to an abrupt halt as they reached the floor below as Judy leapt over a metre into the air, punching out above her head with a loud, "YES!" She waved her arms in front of her chest as she began to descend, paws clenched into deceptively soft looking fists. Landing, she held her position for a moment, looking like some sort of fighter or sportsmammal in a victory pose. "Aaaaaaaahhh," she exclaimed happily. "That. Was. _A_ -ma- _zing_!" She turned to look up at Nadine's even more dazed face, the cutest little smile on her face.

Nadine blinked rapidly, trying desperately to regain some kind of equilibrium. "Er, yeah. Right. Amazing," she managed to stutter. "Judy. What- Did- Bogo just said ' _good job_ '‽"

Judy nodded rapidly again, beaming at her. "Yup!" She sighed happily, her smile broadening into a delighted grin.

Starting to walk again, Nadine led Judy back towards their cubicle. "Something's wrong," she insisted. "This isn't- I mean yeah, it's impressive that in less than four weeks your Weasel came up with something useful, but Bogo? Saying 'good job'? I don't think _anybody_ 's ever managed that."

They reached their shared cubicle - Judy didn't take up much of the space comfortably sized for the big tigress, after all - and Nadine flopped down into her chair.

"Really?" Judy asked enthusiastically. "Well then, guess that's another first for me then! First rabbit on the force and first meter maid to solve a major case; first cop to bring down two mayors and first prey mammal to go savage. First mammal to get a compliment from the Chief." She was practically vibrating out of her own chair she was so excited.

Rallying her faculties, Nadine managed to get a hold of herself. "Judy," she began cautiously. "Why does this mean so much to you?"

Her partner all but did a double-take, surprise clear on her face. "What? Nadine, are you serious?"

She nodded. "I mean, I get that you like your job a lot, but this seems like a bit much for getting praised, no matter how unusual that may be from our boss."

Judy's smile faded slightly and her eyes grew a little distant. "My whole life, pretty much since I understood I'd grow up and get a job one day, I wanted to be a cop." Her ears lost some of their rigidity, beginning to sag as her smile diminished further. "Ever since I was nine, mammals have told me I can't, or shouldn't, or couldn't, be a cop."

She looked up into Nadine's eyes and the tigress felt a bolt of sorrow drive into her heart at the look in the little bunny's eyes.

Judy smiled sadly and continued. " _Fif-_ teen years," she said slowly. "Fifteen years of day in, day out, being told it wasn't going to happen." She paused and sniffed. Her little tongue darted out to wet her lips before she continued. "I managed it though," she said, her drooping ears and slouched posture clearly betraying her real feelings even if Nadine had been fooled by the bit of forced cheer in her voice. "Made it into the academy. First bunny to do that, too."

She took a shaky breath. "It wasn't the easiest ride." Looking up again she offered a slight shrug, a small, melancholy smile on her muzzle. "But then it's not really supposed to be, so I pushed through. I made it to graduation." Her ears perked up a bit. "That was one of, if not _the_ proudest days of my life."

Though still mostly sad, there was a hint of fond nostalgia in her tone at the memory. Nadine had to fight the urge to roll her chair across the cubicle and scoop her partner up in a hug.

"Then my first day," Judy continued, ears drooping all the way now. "After all that work, after finally making it onto the force." She sighed and shook her head. Looking up at her, Judy forced a smile. "To have the same mammal who did that to me, the same mammal who then set me up to fail so he could fire me... To have that same mammal sincerely compliment me today..."

She didn't need to finish. Nadine was already nodding, her heart crying out for her diminutive partner. She let out a juddering sigh, one paw lifting to her mouth, and swallowed thickly.

"Judy..." Shaking her head incredulously, she took a moment to find some words. "I had no idea. I mean, I knew about you coming through the academy and stuff since then, but... Fifteen _years_? You pushed through a _decade and a half_ of... That's _two thirds of your life_! And then Bogo..." She dropped her head into her paws, massaging her closed eyes as she growled softly - softly because she couldn't control herself well enough to deepen it or make it louder.

There was the gentle sensation of a small paw coming to rest on her shoulder. "Hey, partner, it's okay," Judy said gently. "I'm over it. It's fine, really."

Nadine shook her head without lifting it from her paws. "No it's not." She tried to snarl the words out but it came out sounding like she had a cold. "I should have been so much harder on him." Finally lifting her head to look at Judy, who was standing on the desk next to her, she shook her head again. "If I'd known..." she sighed again, miserable on behalf of her crazy, determined, brave bunny friend. "After you resigned," she admitted, "I was pretty stand-offish to Bogo. I wanted him to understand that I was _not_ happy with how you were treated." She looked into Judy's mesmerising purple eyes. "I should have been _so_ much harsher. I'm sorry."

It was Judy's turn to shake her head. "No, Nadine, you have nothing to be sorry for." Her voice was calm and steady, impressively resolute.

"Yes I do," she shot back, growing increasingly angry with herself. "I should never have let him do that without pushing back harder. It was despicable and now he's saying exactly what he needs to to suck up to you after he asked you back-"

"Nadine!" Judy's voice was sharp and icily authoritative.

She twitched in surprise, stiffening from ear to tail, not having expected such a reaction. More than that though, the tone was almost alarmingly maternal - she felt almost like a little cub again with her own mother scolding her.

Judy's stern expression softened into a slight smirk. "Two hundred, seventy-five siblings," she said smugly before her face hardened again. "Chief Bogo is not sucking up to me. I'm not the naive country hick I was when I arrived here." She paused, making sure to look her right in the eye. "The Chief is a good mammal. He's made mistakes, but then we all have. I understand why he acted like he did and I've forgiven him." Her voice softened as she laid her paw back onto Nadine's shoulder. "I don't need or want you to hold a grudge on my behalf, especially about something that I've already moved on from."

Impressed as she was with her partner's maturity, Nadine still had reservations. _You're still a country bunny at heart, Judy, and I know you always look for the best in everyone._

"I just don't understand that, I guess," she admitted. "You've just told me how much all this-" she gestured around the office "-means to you. I don't get how you can be fine with what happened."

Judy was silent then, and Nadine was adept enough at interpreting body language to rapidly spot that she was hiding something. About to ask further - something Judy always encouraged, and something she was getting more comfortable with - she was spared the need as her partner came to a decision and began to speak quietly.

"Nadine, this is strictly confidential," she began steadily, sounding almost rehearsed. "I can't really say anything because this is not public knowledge - yet."

Nadine's ears perked up at that and she looked at her partner curiously. _What the hell?_

"Although the Chief was hostile and antagonistic towards me - which I absolutely do not approve of - there were, ah, _mitigating circumstances_."

_What's so secret about that?_

"I'm not saying anything else because that information is officially classified," she said so absolutely levelly that Nadine was almost unsure whether she was joking. "You'll just have to _trust me_ , Nadine. You'll have to _trust my judgement_."

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Mason watched the shell-shocked tigress and delighted bunny leave his office. Their reactions were both amusing and cause for consideration - if a simple 'good job' could produce that kind of reaction, should he be a little more complimentary to his other officers?

 _It's a cheap incentive alright,_ he mused as the muffled voices of his officers drifted through the door. _But then again, if I did it regularly wouldn't it lose its impact?_

Mason Bogo was not a particularly subtle mammal. There were problems and there were hammers. When hammers wouldn't suffice, there were jackhammers. Borderline sneaky psychological manipulation was simply not a tool that he would ever choose to use, even if it was effective. Hopps seemed to be determined to shake the foundations of his world though. Snorting softly, he decided to sit back and observe from the Olympian vantage point of his office.

_Either it'll make a stir and I can work out how best to use it - and if I should - or nothing will come of it and I can move on._

Admittedly, in this case, he'd not been thinking too carefully about what he was saying. It was damn impressive how that little bunny had gone from savage, to medical leave, to desk duty inside of two months. A month later, she was back in the field, having torn through the task he'd assigned her faster than he'd have thought possible. A month and a half after _that_ and she'd managed to turn that slimy weasel into her informant who'd now come through, barely three weeks later.

He'd been sceptical as he approved the stakeout yesterday but it had paid off marvellously. Three pairs of officers had lain in wait near a pawn broker, careful to keep out of sight. Late in the afternoon, just before closing time, a group of four masked mammals had poured out of a blacked-out van and run into the store. Hopps had led the charge, flicking off the main breaker as she went in and leaving the store in darkness. It was a move that _should_ have worked against the bunny, standing alone against four larger mammals, two of whom had spotted her coming in.

That was when McHorn had reached the entrance, his arrival distracting the gang and blocking most of the light coming through the door. Hopps took the opportunity to knock one of the criminals out and leap behind the counter. Two of the gang had pulled out knives as the big rhino grappled with the bulky zebra leading them, completely ignoring the 'terrified' bunny 'hiding' from them. By the time the other four officers made it inside, McHorn had wrestled the zebra into cuffs and one of the other thieves had been knocked down by the bunny, clutching his midsection and gasping weakly. Apparently bouncing right off his gut, she'd also ridden the other to the floor and was standing on his back, cuffing him.

He'd read the reports with growing bemusement. Veteran officers soundly outclassed by - and full of praise for - a rookie bunny. _Never thought I'd see the day,_ he'd chuckled to himself. The interview transcripts had been rather amusing too. Turning the lights off had been an inspired move, allowing her small, lithe form to scurry around in the thick shadows, all but unseen in the gloom. Neither of the thieves she'd put down as McHorn grappled with their boss had had a clue where she'd come from.

All that, on top of solving two of the biggest cases in decades and taking down two mayors in her first six and a half months on the force. Six and a half months, less the time she'd spent resigned, savage and on medical leave. So more like four months.

He shivered at the thought of Hopps being savage and grimaced as the chilling memories of the museum and its aftermath began playing through his mind yet again.

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Despite Fangmeyer's impulsive stupidity, Mason did as she asked, though not before shooting her a glare. It lacked some of the heat it should have held though. _She probably saved that fox's life,_ he admitted grudgingly. Looking around at his officers with a hint of pride as they subdued the sheep despite the deeply _unsettling_ noises coming from the display pit, Mason reached for his radio, calling out an ambulance and paramedic team via the dispatch team.

A pained feline yowl erupted from behind him and he spun, dreading what he might see. _How much of Hopps' training is still in there?_ Instead of a tigress beginning to bleed to death, he found himself staring into Fangmeyer's panicked face. _Oh, **shit**!_

"We need a med team here _now_!" she roared up at him.

"Already on their way," he replied quickly. "What happened?"

Fangmeyer's ear twitched. She looked down, worry clear on her face, then began to back slowly towards the other side of the pit. Mason glared at her in puzzlement. She gestured, indicating he should come around to the side she was heading for. He snorted, but did so. Arriving first, he noticed the tigress was limping, favouring her left leg. He frowned, peering forwards, and again cursed his weakening eyesight as he found himself unable to make anything unusual out in the stripy pattern of her fur.

"Chief," she murmured quietly as she reached him. "Can you give me a hand out?"

"How's Hopps?" he asked. _Some answers first._

The tigress shook her head. "I need to get out of here first. I don't want her to injure herself."

That got Mason's attention. He knelt down at the edge and lowered a hoof. Fangmeyer grasped it and he pulled, exerting most of the muscles in his broad back to haul the big cat vertically up the metre and a half he gained when standing. She blinked at him as she got a knee onto the rim, presumably unsettled that the strain of lifting her wasn't showing on his face.

"I've lifted heavier than a tiger in my time, Fangmeyer," he said shortly. "Now, Hopps."

Nodding, the tigress began to speak quietly. "She jumped me just after I handed the fox off to Francine and bit my leg." She gestured down and Mason finally noticed the bloody, discoloured fur around her right knee. She continued before he could say anything. "I kicked out, trying to shake her off reflexively and stopped as soon as I realised what I was doing." He paled a little at that, knowing full well the potential implications. "I think she's okay," Fangmeyer said carefully. "She let go of my leg and was whimpering and moving around so hopefully it's just a bad case of whiplash. I wanted to get out of there to calm her down though. If she's injured and savage, she'll be looking for somewhere she feels safe to try to recover and I didn't want my presence to agitate her - she was kind of struggling to get away from me."

Mason nodded with a sigh. Bellweather had a lot to answer for, it seemed, but at least it looked like the death of an officer wasn't going to be added to that list. "We're going to need to tranq her to get her out," he said gloomily.

"Yeah," Fangmeyer agreed morosely. "Even if she's in no state to attack the paramedics she'll injure herself struggling as soon as they try to get close to her, never mind restraining or treating her."

Lifting his radio from its belt clip once again, he ordered dispatch to send out a runner with a couple of otter-sized darts.

Fangmeyer raised an eyebrow. "Otter? Don't think that's gonna be enough, Chief."

"No, it won't be," he replied grimly. "But the next size up is too risky, in my opinion. And even if this isn't enough to knock her out, it'll slow her down and make it hard for her to move. That should be enough for the paramedics to immobilise her."

"Chief!"

Stifling a mental grumble at the urgency in Trunkaby's voice, Mason turned to face her as she jogged up to him. He raised an eyebrow inquiringly.

"The fox," she gestured over her shoulder with her trunk, "is in pretty rough shape. Have we got an ambulance on the way?"

Mason nodded, his visage growing grimmer. "Hopps is in a bad way. I've already got an ambulance and paramedics en route."

Trunkaby scowled. "That fox didn't hurt her, did-"

Mason cut her off with a fast shake of his head. "No. Hopps is the one who's gone savage, Trunkaby. Looks an awful lot like this whole mess is on Bellweather."

"Hmph. Well anyway, the fox says there's an injured ram out on the tracks near the museum station. He's not very chatty with broken ribs but seems like Hopps kicked this ram off the train into the switch for some points near here."

Mason sighed, not needing to hear more. "Head out front," he ordered the elephant, knowing just how unsuited the big mammals with him would be for this task. "Find Hooveton and get him to send a couple of officers down to the station. They can work their way back from there." Trunkaby nodded and began to turn away. "Trunkaby," he called after her. "Elevated lines and fast movements: ideally it'll be a couple of felines, but it's Hooveton's call. He should know who's available." The big elephant nodded again and set off towards the front doors. 

Mason looked back at Fangmeyer. "Come on," he said, offering an arm. "Let's get you over to the fox so the paramedics don't have to run around so much." Nodding, the tigress accepted his support. He pretended not to notice the small winces and grimaces of pain she made with every other step.

_It's going to be gods-damned_ bunnies _now, isn't it? As if I needed more savage mammals bugging me all night._ He nearly stopped in horror as the realisation struck him fully. _I'm going to be killed by a swarm of savage_ fucking _rabbits tonight._ Despite his best efforts, a small groan escaped him as he determinately did _not_ look at Fangmeyer.

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The paramedics had arrived not long after that, tending to the fox, who'd been in a pretty bad way by then. After a brief conference, he'd authorised the use of the otter-size darts on Hopps. It had taken a couple of shots - the bunny had not been in the mood to cooperate and let them have an easy shot, hiding partly behind one of the fake rocks and almost completely covered by the artificial foliage - but the tranq seemed to be enough to calm her.

With a small private smile, Mason recalled how Hopps had looked when she was retrieved from the pit. Her fur was mussed as she'd tried to clean and groom it 'naturally'; although there were faint crimson stains in the fur around her mouth, it looked more like a little kit had gotten into her mother's make up than anything else; her uninjured leg had kicked sleepily as she lay on her back, cradled in the cheetah paramedic's arms. It had been the very definition of adorable. Her eyes only added to the effect, the tranquilliser dilating her irises to comical proportions. If it had been any other mammal, he knew he'd have laughed at them for looking like they were high as a kite on _everything_. With her, it just looked like a young kit's impossibly big, starry-eyed, wonder-filled gaze.

She and the fox had been rushed off to the nearest hospital of course, along with Fangmeyer; the sheep they'd found not far from the museum station following just minutes later. It had been a busy evening as news of Bellweather's arrest broke, news crews mobbing every officer through the precinct doors, including those arriving to help out (overtime, by their own choice) the now badly stressed late shift. He'd barely made it back to his office before Bellweather's assistant mayor, a thoroughly boring squirrel called Caszeou (somehow supposed to be pronounced kind of like cashew, but not actually like the nut) had called.

He'd made time the next day to visit Hopps in the hospital, Fangmeyer having been released after just a couple of hours with little more than a few stitches. The bunny was being kept pretty thoroughly sedated to keep her from injuring herself further or aggravating her existing injuries in the unfamiliar place. He'd been ashamed, he recalled, of how relieved he'd been by that. Savage rabbits had indeed haunted him over night and it had been a blessing not to have to face the reality of that too.

Since he was there, he interviewed the fox. That had been a long, frustrating conversation. Aside from breaking four ribs on one side and cracking two on the other with a kick to be proud of, Hopps' bite, it turned out, had been deep enough on the small canid to warrant minor surgery. Bedside manner was not on his CV - for good reason - but trying to get a straight story from a smart-mouth fox who was medicated half out of his mind would have been a monumental battle with self-control even if he'd been the most empathetic doctor in the world. Just about the only thing he would say with both consistency and enough coherence to be really clear was asking if Hopps was alright.

Mason snorted at the memory. _Impossible mammal._

Once he'd finally managed to get something resembling a straight story from that damn fox, Mason had briefly stopped to check on the ram that his officers had recovered from the tracks. Another victim of Hopps' increasingly intimidating legs, this one was actually in a coma. Medically induced and there'd been a speeding train and a metal bar involved, but still... The doctors had confirmed that there was no way he'd be answering any questions any time soon so Mason had headed back to his office to officially file charges against a second mayor that month.

A brief hearing next morning had concluded as expected: the recording and his officers' testimony, along with the disturbing, though admittedly somewhat sketchy, outline of the plot that the fox had provided were enough for the judge to grant the ZPD the full ninety days to gather evidence and hold Bellweather and her goons until their trials.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Chief!"

"Chief Bogo!"

"Chief Bogo!"

"Chief!"

He waited, silent and scowling, arms crossed on the front steps to city hall. His meeting with now _mayor_ Caszeou had been about as useful as deciding which blade of grass to stomp most viciously on his way back across the park. Eventually the mass of reporters got the hint and started to fall silent.

"I will not be commenting on any active investigations," he began deliberately, not wanting to repeat himself. The scratching of pens and pencils was the only sound near city hall for a moment. "Former mayor Dawn Bellweather and several of her associates have been remanded in custody, charged with several serious offences. The nature of the charges is such that they will not be released on bail. The ZPD will be investigating thoroughly over the coming weeks to ensure no stone remains unturned in the quest for justice."

He paused for a moment. _Should I say more? I normally wouldn't, but the city's hardly in a normal state..._

"Rest assured that-"

_Last chance not to do it!_

"- we believe we have caught the mastermind behind the plot to drive predators savage."

Silence reigned for a beat. _Caszeou's going to be annoyed about that._ The sea of reporters exploded with questions. He ignored them all, striding down the steps. They parted before him like the sea before the bow of a ship. All except for one bobcat.

"Chief Bogo!"

Three steps away; the cat was already having to look up at him.

"Can you tell us-"

Two steps; the cat's eyes widened slightly.

"-anything-"

One step; the cat closed his mouth.

His leg swung forwards and the reporter all but dived out of the way as he continued walking as if there had never been anything between him and the precinct.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the most under-appreciated aspects of a free, independent judiciary that practised what they preached with regards to transparency was how much grief it spared the police. Reporters eager for dirt on the latest big case could spend time harassing court officials instead of cops. Not that either was a particularly smart thing to do, but then, reporters weren't known for their intelligence or survival instincts.

It hadn't taken long for one of them to make the connection between some of the charges levelled at Bellweather in particular and the savage attacks. Mason snorted. _Assaulting an officer with a chemical weapon._ Something of a give-away, especially when combined with the charge of supporting terrorism. The whole pack of them had leaped for that story, leaving him and the rest of the ZPD alone for a few days - enough time to get a proper handle on things and try to find the rest of Bellweather's minions.

The next day, of course, he'd been called back into the hospital. The fox was off his meds and wanted to talk. He'd offered to re-do his interview and had done a great job of providing a much more lucid account of his and Hopps' activities. Mason had been suspicious, feeling like he was being buttered up. This fox was a smooth talker, no doubt of that. Then, surprise, surprise, came the request. Only it was nothing like he'd expected.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You want to _what_ ‽"

"Look, hear me out chief," the fox wheezed, tightly wrapped ribs forcing him to pause for breath. "You've had them. For two and a half. Days already. And you've got. Nothing, from any. Of them. But. There's at least. Two other. Sheep out there. Who know. Something. You guys." He gestured weakly at Mason's uniform with his right arm, wincing slightly at the motion. "Have got to. Be busy with. This. I'm not. Asking for. Mob 'justice'. I'm asking to talk. To mister Big. So we get. Some more eyes. Looking out."

Mason shook his head. "No. Absolutely not. I will not allow you to contact a know crime boss to ask for his help with a police investigation."

"Look. Boss mammal. Judy's godmother. To Big's grand. Daughter. He's going. To find out. And start something. Anyway. Don't you. Want to. Influence. The direction. He moves in?"

Picking his jaw up of the floor, Mason managed to form a coherent sentence. "Hopps is _what_ ‽"

The fox nodded slowly. "She saved. His daughter's. Life. Before. We met," he said, pre-empting Mason's next question. "She made. Judy. Godmother. To her own. Daughter."

Groaning, Mason dropped his head into his hooves. _Why, **why** can nothing ever be straightforward with that rabbit?_

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Chief Bogo!"

He was jolted from his reverie as his door flew open and Clawhauser burst in. Shaking his head in annoyance, he threw the cheetah a glare.

"How many times do I have to tell you to knock?" he growled.

Appearing chagrined, Clawhauser replied with a calmer voice. "Sorry, sir."

He sighed, finding - as usual - that it was impossible to stay angry with the bubbly cheetah for long. "What is it?"

Grinning embarrassedly, the big cat shuffled his feet. "Well, sir, rumour has it that you said, ah, _something_ to Judy earlier."

Feeling his countenance darken into a furious scowl as he listened, Mason prepared to lay into Clawhauser. _He barged in here for this? He's not a schoolgirl and I'm not a vending machine for gossip!_

Clawhauser must have noticed his expression because he lost some of his ebullience. Apparently determined to dig himself a deeper grave yet, he continued, speaking before Mason could open his own mouth.

"Some of us want to take Judy out this evening, sir, to celebrate."

Mason's mouth was open now, ready to fire.

"We just need to know if there are any big cases or changes in shift rotas for tomorrow!" came Clawhauser's alarmed squawking.

Stopping dead, mouth open, scowl firmly set and one hoof raised threateningly, Mason blinked slowly. "Say again?" It was calmer and quieter than he'd expected.

"Some of us want to take Judy out to celebrate this evening," Clawhauser said again, at a more normal pace this time. "We'd like to know if there are any officers who might need to be in early tomorrow or who might be called in for overtime."

Mason frowned. " _Some of us_?" he asked with a frown.

Clawhauser shifted guiltily. "Erm, well, kind of," he stalled.

"Clawhauser!"

"Right! Yes! Sorry, Chief! Erm, yeah, most of the day shift."

Mason pondered the request for a minute, mentally shuffling a host of shift lists, case files and overtime quotas. "No," he said eventually.

Clawhauser's ears pressed back into his head, his tail drooped to the floor and he hunched forward sadly.

"It won't be a problem," Mason continued.

Clawhauser jerked upright, ears snapping up, a wide-eyed look of hope on his face.

"I don't want to be severely under-staffed in case something big comes up tomorrow, so as long as you ask those with less overtime logged not to go too far tonight, I don't see why it would be a problem. Obviously those who are on regular duty tomorrow are expected to be there."

Clawhauser smiled widely, tail flitting up and wiggling in delight as he nodded vigorously. "You got it, Chief!" he said enthusiastically, practically bouncing in place.

_Gods, it's like he's part bunny!_

He offered a salute which would have been sharp and professional if not for the grin on his face. "Thank you, sir!"

Mason nodded in dismissal and Clawhauser let himself out. He sat back with a sigh, suddenly finding himself thinking of when he'd last taken his wife out for a fancy dinner.

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"You monster!"

"Oh gods!"

"No way, man. No _freakin' **way**_!"

"What the hell‽"

"That's _impossible_!"

"Holy crap!"

"Damn, girl! You sure you're a bunny?"

Judy grinned round at her colleagues, admittedly a little bleary. "Size matters not!" she proclaimed in a deliberately hoarse and creaky voice, ears sticking out horizontally.

The was a gale of laughter at that before McHorn gathered himself and looked over at her. "Seriously, Hopps," he grunted in his deep voice. "How the _hell_ did a little bunny like you just drink a bloody _tiger_ under the table?"

Judy's grin lazily stretched into a smirk that Nick would have been proud of. She licked her lips, not feeling all that chatty right now. "Tell you later. I need some water." Descending from the bar stool appropriated for her at the head of their table, she paused to look curiously at Nadine. The unconscious tigress was sprawled on her side but seemed otherwise okay. _No bleedie? Bliddy? Bleeee...eee?_ She shrugged; she knew what she was talking about. A small giggle escaped her as she made her unsteady way over to the bar.

Snarlov, officially the grouchiest bear in the precinct, leaned past McHorn to stage whisper to Ben. "What did you put in Nadine's drink, eh?"

Clawhauser, more than a little tipsy himself, giggled delightedly and patted the polar bear's cheek. "NOTHING!" he squealed. "Judy's just really that amazing!"

Snarlov pulled back wriggling his muzzle as if trying to see if Ben had left anything on it. He grunted, unconvinced. "I'm serious, what..." he trailed off, jaw dropping nearly to the table and eyes bugging as he looked towards the bar.

Several other officers followed his gaze, leading to responses from raised eyebrows to more open mouths. Judy was perched on a barstool, chugging her way through a full-pint tankard. Judging by the angle, she'd only just started it but made no move to pause. Her head tipped further and further back as more and more of whatever she was drinking disappeared down her throat. Eventually the last drop was gone and they watched in astonishment as she slammed the tankard back down on the bar.

Judy looked over at their table as some applause and whistling broke out. She shot the barkeep a sheepish grin as he collected the tankard. The young wolf responded with a knowing smirk and a wink. Turning back to her colleagues, she gave a seated bow before hopping down from the stool and making her way over to the bathrooms somewhat more steady than she'd been a minute ago.

Wandering back over to the table of flabbergasted colleagues a couple of minutes later, Judy found herself fascinated by Nadine's sleeping form. _Sooo big._ Her head tilted to one side. _Kinda fluffy._ She took a step forwards, now under the table. _Looks pretty warm._

She shrugged, knowing damn well that despite the water the booze was going to hit her hard any minute now. _Or maybe, like a minute ago?_ Opening and closing her mouth a couple of times to try to get rid of the slightly sticky sensation, she inadvertantly smacked her lips, alerting Ben to her presence. His large frame wiggled around as he tried to contort himself to look under the table. Judy ignored it all, moving closer to Nadine and settling in the crook of her neck, curling up in the space between her partner's shoulder and jaw. She closed her eyes and sighed contentedly.

"Er, Judy?" came Ben's confused voice a moment later. "You okay?"

"Mmhmm."

"You sure? Why don't you come back up here?"

"Mm-uh."

"Come on, Judy, please?"

"Mm-uh. Too comfy. Warm."

"Um, Judy, I don't-"

She cracked one eye open to shoot her friend a heatless glare. "Just gonna wait for th' water t' take th' edge ov," she mumbled, trying to avoid getting tiger fur in her mouth. Ben hesitated then withdrew.

The hum and buzz of conversation continued around and above her but Judy didn't pay it too much mind. She was warm and cosy and she'd hear anything important anyway. Almost unconsciously she snuggled closer into Nadine's neck. A motion that was rewarded with what might have been considered an affectionate nuzzle if her partner were awake, along with a breathy, abbreviated purr that she repeated a couple of times.

_Huh. That's new?_ She was dimly aware that the conversation above had come to a screeching halt as Nadine started her odd purr. She almost giggled at the ridiculous images she had in her head of her badass cop buddies trying to decide how to play off their toughest cat purring - but giggling would have required too much effort, so she grinned widely and nuzzled back into Nadine's neck. The tentative voices above went silent again as her motion elicited another purr from her partner. Smiling smugly to herself, Judy settled down to wait in comfort.

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Half an hour later, with the bar was nearing closing time and last orders having been run, the little grey rabbit emerged from under the table.

"Hey, guys!" she said, seeming as sleepily chipper as ever at this time of night.

"What the hell, bunny?" Snarlov growled incredulously. "You sleep it off already?"

She pouted. "Wasn't sleeping. It was comfy."

McHorn rubbed the side of his face. "Okay, so come on, how'd you do it? Did you spike her drink?"

Judy snorted in a very un-ladylike manner. "No. Didn't need to." After a moment her ears shot up, one of them nearly smacking Clawhauser in the face. "And I wouldn't!" she added loudly.

There was a round of snickering to which she just rolled her eyes.

"Oh whatever. Who's carrying Nadine home?"

"Hey! Bunny!" McHorn piped up again. "Come on, spill! This is just creepin' me out now. And you did say later."

Judy nodded slowly, exaggerating the motion. "Yes, yes I did. _Later_."

It was McHorn's turn for an eye roll. "Okay, don't argue with a drunk bunny."

Her paw shot out, aimed squarely at his bulky arm. The big rhino flinched - they'd all become familiar with Judy's disturbingly powerful punches in the gym - before he noticed the amused look on her face. Lowering his gaze to her outstretched arm, he reluctantly joined in the chuckles as he saw it was still a good metre away from him, the width of the table having saved him.

"I think you just volunteered to carry Nadine, Rory."

"Okay, okay," he grumbled. "Sheesh, how can one bunny hold so much smug?"

Judy snorted again. "You should talk to a fox I know."

There was a collective groan at that.

"Rory, for th' love o'... Jus', shu' up, please!" Jim Falkner piped up. A big zebra, almost as wide as he was tall, he'd only transferred back from SWAT to the beat two years ago so was kind-of-but-not-really only a step or two ahead of her on the rookie ladder. "Don' encourage 'er. Las'ing we need is t'be 'ere fer anoth'r hour listenin' to 'er talk about _'im_!"

Judy blushed at that. Nick had earned himself quite a reputation amongst her colleagues while they (but mostly she) had been in hospital, she'd discovered. Turns out a snarky fox constantly pestering the guard detail about her and hustling them into letting him see her left an impression. The fallout from the (non-existent) implication her colleagues had gleefully read into was apparently still not over.

McHorn opened his mouth but Jim cut him off with a raised hoof. "And even if ya steer 'er off _'hat_ topic, you ain't gonna climb outta the hole y're diggin'. He's been rubbin' off on 'er far too much." He finished with a smirk and an eyebrow waggle at Judy.

Her blush deepened dramatically. "No fair!" she protested weakly. "Not my fault he bugged you all at the hospital." Right now she honestly wasn't sure whether she was blushing more from Jim's rather blunter-than-usual innuendo or just generally the idea of her friends talking about her love life. Desperately fighting the urge to hide behind her ears, she combed her mind for a way to get back at Jim - and the rest - for this needling.

McHorn was hauling Nadine to her feet, the tigress cracking open a bleary eye.

"Wuh?" she exhaled more than asked.

"Helping you home, Nadine, come on," McHorn rumbled.

Judy grinned weakly. Not the best, but she'd take it.

"Ain't gonna envy you _or_ Judy in the morning," he added, clearly intending it to be inaudible.

Judy's grin became nearly predatory.

Jim noticed and facehoofed. "Shu' uuuup!" he groaned. "Wha' 'ave ya done?"

"Hey, Rory," Judy called. "Betcha your hangover turns out worse than mine!"

McHorn looked at her uncertainly, suspicion clear in his eyes. The rest of the officers with them held their breath, praying McHorn wasn't inebriated enough - or stubborn enough - to take the bet. None of them were at the point where they'd intercede, knowing full well they'd just get dragged into whatever vengeance the bunny was planning. His eyes narrowed as he inspected her. "Not a chance, bunny."

"You're taking the bet?"

"Yeah. I'm in."

"Good. 'Cos the winner gets to leave a loud radio or something like that outside the others' place."

The rhino snorted. "You're gonna _wish_ you had something stronger than aspirin tomorrow, girl."

Nadine cracked one eye open to shoot the rhino holding her up a red-eyed death glare. "Less talk. More home."

He grunted. "Catch ya in the mornin', Judy. You're gonna be _beggin'_ me for mercy."

Judy let her smirk reply for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote the opening note, gave the chapter a quick proof-read and it's now one in the morning. I really should go to bed - feeling kind of like Fangmeyer, minus the drink. Would that be a good idea now? *shrug*
> 
> Also, random sleep-deprived rant about pronunciation. What is it with people picking weird ways to say/spell their names? We've got people like 'Ralph Fiennes' (Voldemort - if you don't know who that is, you've been living under a rock for a decade so stop already) -> 'Rafe Fines' (okay, so Fiennes/Fines I can kind of see) and 'Menzies Campbell' (a British politician) -> 'Mingus' or 'Ming' 'Cam-bell' (again, kind of see the surname).
> 
> Then again, maybe it's just the nature of human language? I'm no linguist so I can't say with any certainty about other languages, but English has its share of weird homophones. 'Queue' <-> 'cue'; 'ewe' <-> 'you' <-> 'yew'. Then there's just plain misleading stuff like 'colonel' <-> 'kernel' and a personal favourite, 'lieutenant' -> 'leftenant'.
> 
> So yeah. Language is weird. And I seem to be too. At least more so than usual when sleep-deprived :P


	9. Chapter 8: Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. This was absurdly hard to write. I ended up changing entire chunks and re-writing some pretty big sections. Oh and my computer, which is starting to show its age, staged a coup when I ordered parts to upgrade it and refused to stay booted for longer than two hours, though sometimes it would shut itself down after fifteen minutes. Anyway, new parts are arriving tomorrow so screw you computer; your revolution failed. *blows raspberry*

Pounding rock or a shrieking violin? Grand, epic orchestral music or hideously out of tune rap? Wailing electric guitar or blaring trumpet for the solo? A thunderous organ or stormy drums? It was so difficult to plan an attack like this without knowing more about the target. How thick were the walls? Would internal doors be open or closed? Where was the bedroom relative to the front door?

Eventually deciding to get some help, a phone call was made and a favour cashed in. This was going to be the worst morning after _ever_.

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Boombox in the hallway: check. Slightly smaller portable radio outside a window, courtesy of the fire escape: check. Hiding, ready for the ambush: check. Hopefully this wouldn't annoy the building's other residents too much. It had taken some work but everything was finally ready.

A digit extended towards the play button on the boombox: time to start wrecking somebody's morning. With a malicious grin, the fiery meteor of a digit descended, beginning the morning's apocalypse.

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Sixty miles away, a certain smug red fox was doing what he did best.

"Knock it off, Nick!"

He yelped in surprise and stumbled as a balled-up lion sized hoodie caught him in the side of the head. It unravelled from the impact, managing to wrap around the back of his head and draping over his snout. Disentangling himself, he shot a glare over his shoulder at Gunther.

At the same time Tony yelled, "Hey! Use your own. Now mine's gonna smell like _fox_ for a week."

"I asked you to make him shut up. It's your own fault," the big bear grumbled.

"He's got a point, Tony," Charlotte said reasonably.

The lion rolled his eyes and flipped her off, not bothering to respond verbally.

"Oh _come on_ guys," Nick entreated. "We've got all of tomorrow to study, and these aren't the finals anyway."

Sam shot him a mild glare. "Yeah, yeah, mister smarty-pants. Not all of us have a photographic memory."

It was Nick's turn for an eye roll. Turns out spending nearly two decades reading between the lines of legalese fine print had worked wonders for both his knowledge of Zootopian law and his memory in general. While not genuine photographic memory, he had rapidly found that just reading through the textbooks and notes a couple of times was enough for him to retain most of the key information. He wasn't able to recite things word-for-word of course, but he was able to convey the meaning easily enough. This first batch of exams would be a doddle, he was sure of it.

"Look, we all need to study, I'm not arguing with that," he offered reasonably. "But we've been here five weeks, and apart from the first couple of days when we were all trying to figure out where the heck everything was, we've all been working pretty much non-stop." Gesturing around expansively, he tried again. "Look, none of you can study constantly like this - you'll burn out."

"Oh, _we_ will burn out? _We_ can't study without a break?" Sam shot back with a small growl.

"Damn right!" Nick said with a smirk. " _I_ am already taking a break. _I_ am making sure I _won't_ burn out."

"Then go take your break somewhere else," Gunther growled. He'd been struggling a bit with the more academic side of their training but curtly refused any offers of help - no explanation given.

An idea crystallised in Nick's head then: a way to get them all to relax a bit, maybe have a laugh or two as well. It was still police-related, so they might bite if he presented it right. And it might even allow him to segue into a group study session to help Gunther.

"Okay, how about this," he said to the room at large. "I'll tell you guys about my third big bit of police work but we treat it like a game of Cluedo - or maybe just a drinking game?" He shook his head briefly at his pointless meandering. "Point is, you guys have to guess what's coming next, kind of like if you were detectives trying to break a case open."

"Your _third_ bit of police work?" Charlotte asked, a strong note of curiosity in her voice.

Nick nodded. "Yup, third." He deliberately didn't say anything else, wanting someone to bite. A moment later, Tony took the bait.

"Okay, so not the missing mammal conspiracy and not the night howler fiasco. What else did you get involved in? I don't remember any other cases big enough for your ego between then and now."

There were a few snorts of amusement at that and Nick subtly glanced around, pleased to note that everyone, including Gunther, was paying attention. Only Sam and Charlotte seemed genuinely attentive but he could tell the others were listening as well. The way ears were angled; the way they were holding themselves still and trying to be quiet; subtle tells that he'd learned to pick up on years ago as they'd been essential to his former profession.

"Har, har," he snarked back. Tony, it turned out, wasn't actually prejudiced against foxes. His needling and jabs were much more indiscriminate than that. At first Nick had been suspicious - why would someone so apparently hostile to all other mammals want to become a police officer? Eventually he'd realised it was the big cat's poor sense of humour leading him to attempt jabs and jokes that usually fell flat because of a combination of occasional genuine offensiveness, awful timing, and terrible delivery. Ever since, he'd been subtly nudging Tony along, massaging his maturing sense of humour into something that would achieve exactly what the big cat was looking for. _It's funny, I'm kind of the dark lord of wit and he's been suckered into becoming my apprentice._

"No, it wasn't another big case," he continued out loud. "It's all about the _aftermath_ of the the night howler thing." Grinning around, confident that everyone else really was listening, he launched into the story.

"'Twas a dark 'n stormy night," he began theatrically, unable to help himself. Noticing a few eye-rolls and a couple of suppressed smirks, he didn't bother trying to hide his own growing grin. "Okay, not really," he admitted, "but come on, that sounded good!" There were a few chuckles at that. _Going well so far._

"Anyway, Hopps and I are in the hospital after the museum. She got injured first which is why we ended up hustling a confession out of Bellweather right there instead of getting straight to the ZPD but I took a few hits as well. Bogo visited to take my statement, which was a little tricky when looped up on meds - I think I can safely say I permanently raised his blood pressure by a few notches," he confessed smugly. "The ZPD already had three of Bellweather's goons - the three rams with her in the museum - but they were dumb muscle and didn't know anything vaguely useful. They also picked up Woolter, who was in a coma in the hospital and not very talkative. That left two others that we knew about: Jesse and Doug, their chemist and sniper. Jesse was pretty hard to miss - big bulky ram with all the wool on his front shaved off -"

"How'd that happen?" Sam interrupted. "I mean it's not like you could have sneaked up to him with some pruning shears."

Nick openly grinned around at the other cadets. "Any ideas, _detectives_?" A few fairly weak guesses later he took pity on them. "Okay, okay, I'll tell you."

"Wait!" Sam cried. "I thought we were supposed to work this out?"

Shooting her a grateful look - her enthusiasm was pulling some of the other in, after all - Nick nodded. "Yeah, but there isn't really any evidence for you to work from here. If one of you got it it would be a lucky guess." He shrugged. "Unless anyone _wants_ to spend the next couple of hours guessing?" Unsurprisingly, nobody did. "So long story short, Jesse and Woolter were the two who chased me and Judy when we hijacked their night howler lab-on-a-train. Jesse ended up getting knocked out of the front of the train when it was still getting going. He made it to the side of the tunnel and got shaved by the train as it went past."

Ignoring the exchanged glances at that, he pushed on with the story, wanting to get to the good bit. "And as for Woolter, well, being wrapped around a metal pole with lots of broken bones made him easy to find."

Gunther spoke up at that, surprise and a hint of worry clear in his voice. "Lots of broken bones? And he was in a coma in the hospital? What the hell did you do to him?"

Nick shook his head. "Nothing like you're thinking, man. Judy kicked him off the train -" There were a few sharp inhales at that so Nick rushed to finish his sentence. "- and he hit an old manual switch for a set of points." _That could probably have been done better,_ he admitted to himself as a few more looks were exchanged. "Look, if she hadn't done that, not only would he have been able to keep attacking us, but he might have been able to do something about the evidence we were _acquiring_ for the ZPD. Also we would have crashed head-on into another train and probably derailed both in the middle of the downtown skyrail."

Silence greeted that. While they might still be uncomfortable with causing that level of bodily harm, none of the other cadets would have wanted to see a derailment on the elevated lines that ran through the heart of the city. The casualties and damage from something like that would have been absolutely horrific.

Nick gave them a moment before continuing. "And then there was one." He looked around, making sure nobody was too distracted by the idea of the derailment. "Doug Ramses, the bastard who cooked up the savage toxin and was the shooter in every single case of savagery that we know about." Feeling the eyes of everyone in the room on him, he swallowed his own feelings about the vile ram. "He got away clean; no trace at all. Pretty much the entire ZPD was mobilised to look for him.

"After a couple of days in the hospital, Bogo came by to talk to me again. Turns out he wanted more info and figured waiting 'till I was off the meds might make me more coherent."

"Hmph," Charlotte snorted. "I doubt that. You probably aren't any less slick when you're high, but I bet you talk more and a lot faster."

There were a few chuckles at that, along with a some knowing looks. Nick's tongue had gotten him into hot water several times, and talked himself - and a couple of them - out of the same more often than not.

Tossing her a casual salute, Nick smirked. "I said _he figured_ it would help, not that it did."

"So," he resumed his tale with a flourish. "It's been a couple of days, there's been no sign of either ram, and progress on a cure for the savage toxin is real slow. What do you think I suggested? And before you answer, it's something that I promise took Bogo by surprise."

There was a moment's silence as they digested that.

"You didn't offer to do anything illegal, did you?" Tony asked. "I'm pretty sure that'd surprise the Chief of Police!"

Nick joined in the round of chuckles. "Nah, not really." He paused. "Well, actually, kind of. In a round-about way, I guess it was vaguely related to something illegal."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Ooh, so helpful, thank you." Sarcasm dripped from her voice like honey.

A couple more ideas were tossed around until Charlotte asked, "Did you offer to get some friends, or people you knew, to help the mammalhunt?"

"Ding ding!" Nick cried, pointing at her. "Point to Charlotte."

"Wait, what? How is that related to something illegal?" Sam protested.

"Well, aside from involving civilians in an active investigation," Nick began reasonably. Sam growled at him, eyes narrowed threateningly. Shooting her his smarmiest grin, he ignored her posturing. "The mammal I was offering to get in contact with was a small, but very well-connected individual. A certain _businessmammal_ who lives in Tundra Town."

"Wha-‽ You offered to go to the _mob_?" Tony almost fell out of his chair in shock.

Nick shrugged, wanting to reveal as little as possible. "Yes, yes I did." He took a breath, then barrelled over Gunther as the bear started to say something. "BUT, I'm not involved with them, I never worked for them, etcetera. You think I could have made it in here with something like that in my past?"

Gunther's eyes narrowed. "Then how could you ask for their help?"

Nick shrugged as casually as he could. "I have contacts," he said vaguely. Looking around, he saw clearly that his answer hadn't satisfied anyone. "Look," he said with a resigned sigh. "Living and working the streets for a while, you get to know mammals. I know just about every _businessmammal_ and _entrepreneur_ in the city by name. Not that I'm friends with most of them - or any of them, really - I just know them. I know who to talk to and I know where mammals are likely to be."

There was a guarded silence and Nick prayed that he wouldn't have to say anything else on the matter. Eventually Sam nodded. "Okay," she said slowly, "so you knew someone who could get you in touch with the Bigs. That still doesn't explain why you'd turn to them, or suggest that to the Chief."

Nick nodded gratefully at her, a small smile on his muzzle. "Doesn't it?" he asked rhetorically. "I mean, we all know that Big's network is, well, big, right?"

Charlotte narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth but Tony beat her to the punch. "You wanted to use his mammals, however many he has, to keep an eye out for Doug!" he exclaimed. "Maybe even in the places that cops wouldn't normally go?"

"Aaaaaaand that's two points to Tony!" Nick said, mimicking a sports announcer's tone and cadence. He shot the lion a pair of finger guns with a grin. "Our biggest cat takes the lead with that slick move, sneaking past the now second placed Stripes."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nick lay back, smirking. _Who'd have thought that telling the Chief of Police that one of his officers is considered part of Big's family would get him to listen to me?_ He was a little uncomfortable about having told Bogo without Judy's knowledge or consent, but she wasn't exactly herself right now. _If this works out, then it'll have been worth it._ Either way, he was committed now and it was time to start what might be the biggest hustle of his life. Taking as deep a breath as he could manage, he reached out for the call button next to the bed.

To say that the nurse who responded wasn't thrilled about getting him up would be a huge understatement. He eventually managed to convince her that his 'important family business' required him to use a phone _right now_. Grudgingly helped into a wheelchair - _A wheelchair‽ Seriously?_ \- he was trundled through the halls to the nearest public phone. The nurse left the room with a stern glare and a warning not to get up.

Rolling his eyes at her attitude, Nick nevertheless stayed in the wheelchair; if he was going to get out of here and do what he needed to do as soon as possible, he couldn't afford torn stitches or to aggravate his broken ribs by falling over. Picking up the handset - noting without surprise that it was still an ancient corded model - he dialled one of the few numbers he'd ever bothered to memorise. The phone rang three times before it was answered.

"Who da fuck's dis?" barked a deep voice as soon as the call connected. "How'd ya get dis number?"

"Fin!" Nick started enthusiastically.

"Wilde‽" the little Fennec bellowed back. "You smirking bastard, where da hell've you been? Do you know how shit it's been try'na do da pawpsicle gig solo? Huh?"

"Fin, listen-"

"No. Fuck you man. First ya actually help dat stupid bunny cop den you go sulk under dat bridge for a month. Now you call me outta no-fuckin'-where and expect me to do ya a solid?"

"Fin, please!" He let his walls down a touch - enough to let a hint of real fear and desperation into his voice. It was a little too much though and he groaned as his ribs throbbed.

"Wilde?" Finnick asked after a moment, the _barest hint_ of concern in his tone. "Ya sound pretty rough."

With a grimace, he admitted, "Broken ribs." It came out as little more than a wheeze.

"Shit, man, what happened?"

Nick gave a wry smile. "Long story. The real short of it is that savage rabbits can kick like you wouldn't believe."

There was silence for a moment. "Bunny cop. Has gone savage? _**WHAT DA FUCK WILDE‽**_ "

He chuckled weakly. "Believe me. You don't know. The half. Of it."

"So why ya callin'? Need a ride to da hospital? Or need fresh threads?"

"What? Why would I need clothes?"

"Really? Bunny vs Fox and ya need me to tell ya why ya'd need'a get clean?"

"Oh come on! Fin. You know. That's. Not me." The indignation in his voice was real and unfiltered. He'd never been a violent mammal, preferring to talk his way out of trouble wherever possible, and run when it wasn't. Fighting carried a risk of injury and in his profession, you couldn't afford to be laid up for weeks while broken bones healed.

"Yeah, yeah. Fuckin' pansy," Fin growled. "So cops picked ya up an' you're at da hospital already?"

Nick nodded. "Yeah. It's been. A bit. Mad."

"I ain't bustin' ya out," Finnick warned with a growl.

"No, no. Nothing. Like that." Nick wheezed back. "I just. Need you. To make. A call. For me."

"Da hell, Wilde? You gotta phone right dere!"

"Yeah. But the. Mammal. I gotta. Call. Isn't a. _Big_ fan. Of cops. He might. Not answer. A call. From the. Hospital."

"Oh no. No, no! I ain't callin' him. Dat's your mess, boy. Don' drag me inta dat shit."

"Fin. Please! This is. _Really_. Important. Hopps. Bunny cop. She knows. _Him_."

"Ya shittin' me! How da fuck?"

"Look. It's important. She's in. Trouble. And I. Gotta meet. _Him_. Ya gotta. Set that. Up. For me. Fin."

Silence answered him.

"I wouldn't. Ask. If it. Wasn't. Important. Fin. I need. Your help. Here. Please."

He was quiet for a moment longer. "I ain't talkin' ta _him_. No way."

"Please Fin. I'll owe you. A huge-"

"Oh cut the sappy crap, Wilde," the little fox snarled. "I'll call a guy. He might know a bear."

Relief flooded him, almost as potent a feeling as the blessed numbness of the painkillers when he'd first been dosed up in the back of the ambulance. "Thanks, man. I-"

"I said cut the sappy crap Wilde! Coupl'a days with a bunny an ya're already gone soft. We done?" he asked brusquely.

"Yeah. We're done. Fin. Thanks."

"Alright. Ya owe me."

"Yeah," Nick sighed as the line went dead. _Well, that could have been worse._

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Five hours later, and much to the chagrin of his nurse, Nick carefully walked out of the hospital. Turns out the chief of police can write a kind of anti-doctor's note if he feels like it. There was a white limo waiting near the doors, a scowling polar bear next to it.

"Kevin!" Nick smiled weakly in greeting. "Thanks for. Coming. Gotta be. Gentle. Broken. Ribs," he gestured at his chest as the bear stepped forward.

Kevin paused, then nodded silently and turned to open the limo door, a thin mist seeping out. They got in to the chilly car, Kevin across from him and glaring at the slightest motion. Nick resolved to keep as still as he could, not even looking around the inside of the limo. He didn't do it out of fear: he just wanted to see if he could get the bear to stop scowling at him like a pet reptile that shat in the house. He didn't manage it before they arrived at the Big mansion in Tundra Town.

He was shown into the frosty study, a pair of polar bears guarding the door. _Well, there's some deja-vu, and not the good kind._ He shivered as the side door opened and Mister Big made his customary entrance. Nick bowed as far as he could then shuffled forward to gently kiss the proffered ring.

"Mister. Big. Sir."

"Nicky." The tone was flat, edged with frost. "What happened? Has Judy been injured?"

"In a. Way, sir." Nick held up his hand to stop the shrew responding. Mister Big's eyebrows drew together at the impudent gesture. _Easy, boy. Gotta be_ real _careful now._ "Sir. I have. Information. But this. Is delicate. And I. Need to. Explain. Some things. First."

"Are you telling me to send my bears away, _fox_?" It was barely louder than a whisper; such a faint sound shouldn't be able to carry so much menace.

Nick shook his head stiffly, wincing as the motion jostled his chest. "No, sir!" he exclaimed as loudly as he could, grimacing. "I am. _Asking_. For your. Discretion. Sir." A brief pause to get some breath back. "Please. I wouldn't. Ask. Lightly. You need. To hear. This first." He would have held his breath as the shrew examined him if not for the fact that the deepest breath he could hold right now would only have lasted a few seconds.

"Everyone out."

Nick froze as he heard that. _He's going for it? He's going for it! Nice job Slick. Looks like you've still got it._

Once he was alone in the study with Mister Big and Koslov - the hulking bear was his personal bodyguard and manservant and privy to even the most private details of his life - Nick bowed again. "Thank you. Sir."

Mister Big gazed at him coldly. "You will explain why I did that. Now."

Nick nodded. "Yes, sir. But please. Let me. Finish. Before. You do. Anything."

The shrew's eyes remained flinty. He gestured for Nick to continue without acknowledging his request. _About as good as I'm gonna get?_ He wondered idly what his odds of getting iced before he finished were - would it be worth putting money on his own survival? _Doesn't matter. You're committed. And this is to help Judy._

"Sir. Judy was. Injured. And I. Am here. On behalf. Of her. Boss."

Mister Big had stiffened as soon as he said that Judy was hurt. Admitting that he was here on behalf of the police had him shooting the fox a dangerous glare. "Ten seconds, fox. Why?"

"I'm wearing. A wire. Sir."

The shrew's expression darkened further and he lifted a tiny paw to signal Koslov.

"It's the only. Way to help. Judy!" Nick gasped. He sagged forward, panting as deeply as he could manage, nose to his chest as he fought for breath. After a few seconds, he hadn't been iced and had enough breath to lift his head again, though he kept breathing as heavily as he could.

Mister Big's paw was still raised but it seemed that imminent death was on hold - for now. The shrew looked at him, studying him as closely as one might an indecipherable manuscript. "Why, Nicky?"

He swallowed. _Here goes nothing._ "I can't. Say as. Much as. I want. To. Or as. Much as. You'd like. Sir," he wheezed. "The cops. Don't want. The case. Or evidence. Compromised."

The shrew fixed him with another glare. "Are you here to investigate me?"

Nick shook his head. "No, sir." He relaxed fractionally as Mister Big lowered his paw without gesturing Koslov forward. "You're just. A friend. Who might. Be able. To help."

"I see."

For all Nick's ability to read mammals, he couldn't get a thing from the shrew. _Maybe it's because he's so small?_

"And why might I help?"

Nick's face fell. _Or maybe because he's a real player: ruthless and cruel when it serves him._ He almost took a deep breath to try to bring his heart rate down but caught himself in time. "The chief. Knows, sir. About Judy. Saving. Your daughter."

The shrew's gaze sharpened. "The chief?"

He nodded. "Yes, sir. No-one else."

Eventually Mister Big nodded. "So the wire is to make sure my help stays legal?"

"Yes, sir. And to. Make sure. A lawyer. Can't. Throw it. Out."

"Hmm. Very well. What happened and how do you see me helping?"

Over the next half hour Nick slowly explained what had happened after he and Judy had last left the mansion. He had to be circumspect, avoiding names and using hints and references rather than real descriptions in many places. As a result, his story was full of statements like "and there were a couple of _wool-brained idiots_ helping cook up a little something that Mister Otterton and Mister Manchas might recognise" that would make no sense to an outsider.

"So this, _well-known individual_ was responsible for injuring Judy in a manner similar to others that I know?"

Nick nodded slowly, very aware of the need to restrain Mister Big's likely reaction. "Yes, sir. But that's not. What we. Need help. With."

"We?" He said it in a tone that went way back to 'imminent icing' coldness.

Nick winced; for once it had nothing to do with his chest. "Easier. To say. Sir. I'm. A little. Short. Of breath. At the. Moment. Sir."

The shrew glared at him for a moment. "Fine. What _do_ you need help with? I hardly think my customary response to something like this would go down well with your current sponsor."

Slowly, painfully, Nick explained how he'd suggested to Bogo that the shrew and his associates would be able to provide dozens upon dozens of pairs of eyes to help search for the sheep Jesse and Doug Ramses, wanted for questioning in connection with a major open case. He also emphasised that it was help with the _search_ \- the police could not condone any action by civilians beyond calling in any sighting of the mammals in question.

Eventually both parties were satisfied they had reached an agreement. Nick handed over printouts of what information they had. Jesse's data was little more than a description: he hadn't gone to uni and wasn't an active social media user; the one mugshot the police had was from the one time he got thrown into juvie. That said, as the description made fairly clear, he'd be pretty easy to spot. "Large male sheep, eye patch on his right eye, most of the wool on his front shaved off." Doug's file was a little thicker. Turns out he had two Masters' degrees and a PhD. All of that generated a lot of paperwork which the ZPD could access. It had been sanitised by their legal team but there was enough left for Mister Big to work with.

Nick was taken back to the hospital by the same limo that picked him up. Too tired to play games with Kevin, he lay down across the rear bench, ignoring minor inconveniences like seatbelts so that he could take some of the strain off his chest. _Besides,_ he'd snarked to himself, _if we do crash I'll just bounce off that flabby bear._

Settling back in his room, he shot his still sour nurse a grateful smile. It was nearly midnight and he was exhausted. _Wouldn't be surprised if I pass out as soon as I close my eyes._

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So how long do you reckon it was 'till we got a call?" Nick asked casually, the smug palpably oozing off him.

They'd amended the rules of the game as it progressed, with lucky guesses now counting for one point and genuine deductions three - there were just too many opportunities to ask questions that had no evidence-based answer. That, and none of them - though Charlotte in particular - could resist coming out with wild guesses whenever he paused for breath anyway.

"A week?" Gunther offered cautiously.

Nick smiled to himself, glad that the bear had become more involved as the game went on. "Nope," he said cheerfully.

"Three days!" Charlotte all but shouted. A shake of a smirking fox muzzle was the only response she received.

"Two," Sam suggested calmly.

"Ding!" Nick crowed.

Charlotte groaned in disappointment and went to mark the point on the big tally chart she'd set up to track and display everyone's scores.

"So yeah, two days later, around nine in the evening, Mister Big called the hotline that the ZPD boffins set up." Nick smoothly continued his story, enjoying the game more than he thought he would. "We had a sighting of Jesse. Not really properly confirmed, but there aren't exactly a lot of sheep wandering around with half their wool sheared off."

There was a snort from Tony at that.

"Turns out he spent most of the time since we last saw him trying to keep himself out of sight and as unconscious as possible by drinking anything he could get his hooves on," Nick explained. "Any ideas on where he was spotted?"

There were a couple of fairly random guesses before Sam spoke up. "If he was drinking a lot, I'm guessing he was either in a bar or being thrown out of one when he was spotted. Sheep trying to stay out of sight? Some dive bar in the Meadowlands?"

"Dingdingding!" Nick exclaimed gleefully. "One hundred percent for Sam on the first guess." He paused to let Charlotte mark the score and for the room to settle again before continuing. "Yeah, he was stumbling around from dive bar to dive bar. Seems like he'd probably been to them all already at least once because he got kicked out of each one pretty quickly. About ninety minutes after the ZPD got the call, a SWAT unit fell on him like a ton of bricks."

Tony grinned. "Man, that must have made an impression. Especially if he was that drunk!"

There were a few chortles at that. They hadn't had their SWAT taster yet but had seen the recruiting films a couple of times now - they were usually playing somewhere in the quieter areas of the academy. Every single one of them was itching to try some of the kit and the moves they'd seen so breathtakingly demonstrated. A couple of their cohort were almost literally giddy at the idea of the SWAT cadre arriving at the academy after the winter break.

Nick grinned back. "I'm sure it did, though he might not remember much of it now - they picked him up after he got kicked out of the fifth bar he'd tried to get into since they got the call."

"Kicked out of five bars in ninety minutes?" Charlotte asked, aghast. "And he's not even a student!"

His grin cranking up a notch at the perfect opening, he couldn't help the amusement in his tone as he innocently asked, "Did he beat your record?"

Sam chortled and Gunther grunted in amusement as Charlotte let out an indignant, "Hey!"

Once they all settled down again Nick pushed on. "It took him until lunchtime the next day to sober up properly, but one he did, he cracked pretty much instantly. The ZPD got a boatload of information - more than enough to put him, Woolter, Doug and Bellweather away for a very long time. More importantly though, he gave up one of their old labs." He grinned around at his captivated audience. "SWAT swung into action again - feel free to swoon, ladies."

Sam snorted as Charlotte didn't quite blush. "Those kittens couldn't _touch_ a TUSK unit," the fiery lynx shot back.

Nick grinned. "Maybe, _kitty_ ," he jabbed. "But you're not TUSK yet, are you?" He didn't give her a chance to retort, wanting to keep the game from being derailed. "No luck finding any sheep at the lab, but there was a bunch of complicated science-y stuff that the docs were able to start using to help with the work on a cure for the night howler serum."

"I heard that was one mother of a complicated drug to beat," Tony said.

Nick nodded. "They'd had the other savage mammals to study for a month by then and hadn't made any real progress. Even with the stuff from the lab, it took then another four, five days to get a potential antidote out."

Gunther frowned. "What made it so difficult?" he asked. "I've never heard of it taking that long to make an antidote for something that the docs already know about."

"That's the thing," Nick said with a shrug. "Apparently it wasn't just some kind of simple poison. The docs were going on about some funky brain chemistry stuff. Way over my head," he acknowledged with a small grin. "Anyway, they got to starting testing on the biggest mammals not long after that. They moved through the mammals they had from largest downwards - something about lethal doses and side effects - and it took two days to get down to hyenas.

"Before they got any further, some of the mammals started having bad reactions and they stopped the trials." He shifted uncomfortably. "It was a bit... off... really. That the best doctors in Zootopia couldn't figure this out." _If we hadn't gotten lucky, everyone might still be savage. Or dead from a test gone wrong._ He shivered, disguising the motion with a shake of his head. "They tried a few different things over the next few days until they got something that seemed to work.

"Mammals being dosed with the new formula were a heck of a lot calmer. Not fully cured, but much less savage." He grinned weakly. "Less ' _snarl at anything that moves_ ' and more ' _don't touch me or I'll kill you_ hungover'." There were a few chuckles at that. "Unfortunately it turned out to be temporary," he continued more sombrely. "They all began to revert to full savage, with the smaller mammals going first." Another shiver, this time concealed with an elaborate seated stretch. "Turns out that funky brain chemistry stuff really had the docs thrown for a loop. They were scared of doing something that would cause permanent damage - which is fair enough in my book." _But that didn't make me very happy at the time, did it? Rock and a hard place._

"They dialled up the doses over the next few days and eventually they had everyone more or less lucid most of the time. It was enough for the police to begin interviewing them, but I know at least seven of those had to be broken up into several sessions as mammals semi-reverted partway through." He paused for dramatic effect. "Then, on Monday night, we got another call."

His audience was silent, riveted; the game forgotten as they'd all become immersed in the story he was telling.

His phone rang.

There was a pause, then a round of chuckles and laughs broke out. Nick rolled his eyes and pressed the accept button.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Nick jerked the phone away from his head as Finnick's maniacal laughter boomed through the speaker, loud enough for everyone in the room to focus on it.

"Oh _DAMN_ Nick! Da hell did ya do ta find dis bunny?" he asked, still loud, but not so loud that everyone else could hear it.

"What do you mean, Fin?"

The tiny fox cackled again. "She more fox dan some vixens I know!"

Nick rolled his eyes. "Come on, Fin. Just tell me."

"Oh I ain't sayin' nothin'," he promised. "Just watch da video. She gonna send it to ya."

Nick blinked as Finnick hung up. "Okaaaaay. That was different."

"What's up Nick?" Sam asked curiously. "Who was that?"

"An old _business partner_. He asked me how I found 'this bunny' - presumably Judy - and said she was more foxy than some vixens he knows." He paused, brow furrowing as he tried to work out what Finnick could possibly have meant. "And something about a video-" He was cut off as his phone dinged.

"Ooooh," Charlotte cooed. "Come on, let's see it then!"

Looking around at the eager faces, Nick sighed then moved towards the middle of the room, gesturing the others to come around.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The play button on the boombox clicked. There was a moment's silence as the CD spun up. Then the grating opening chords of Highway To Hell blared out of the large speakers, loud enough that it seemed like it should have been audible from the next building over.

" _Liiiivin' easay, loooovin' free. Seeaason ticket on a one-waaay riide!_ "

There was an audible _thump_ from inside the apartment as the lyrics began belting out.

" _Aaaaskin' nothin', leeaave me be. Taaakin' everythin' in my striide._ "

"Ugh. What the _fuck_ ‽" came a deep voice from inside, followed by a groan.

" _Don't neeeed reason, don't neeeed rhyme. Ain't nothin' I would ratheeer do._ "

Heavy footsteps thudded towards the door, accompanied by a groan of, "Hooooops!"

" _Goooin' down, partaay time. My friends are gonna be there too._ "

The door swung open, revealing a clearly badly-hungover rhino: one arm half protecting his bleary eyes, half resting on his forehead; squinting at the boombox in a mixture of loathing and nauseous apathy; not quite leaning on the door he'd just pulled open. He bent down towards the boombox, searching for the off button.

" _I'm on the hiiiiighwaaay to hell, on the-_ "

Silence descended as he managed to find the stop button. "Ugh. I hate you Hopps," the rhino muttered to himself. He stood slowly, picking up the boombox. A small grey blur was just visible in the bottom corner of the image for a moment. The rhino turned and shuffled back into his apartment, closing the door with a dull clunk. All was quiet for a moment, save for his fading footsteps.

The wailing of a violin suddenly shattered the quiet once more.

"The _**fuck**_ ‽" the rhino wailed in shock and pain. There were more heavy footsteps inside the apartment. "What? Why is there a radio on my windowsill?" The music cut off a moment later. "Ugh. Evil bunny. _Evil_. Bloody fire escape. Useless anyway."

There was another minute of muttering and shuffling, then all was quiet once more.

A thumping beat echoed out from inside the apartment - the opening to Another One Bites the Dust.

"Oh come _ON_! You _sadistic **bitch**_ ," the rhino wined. A few more footsteps - it sounded like this was close to his bed (or wherever he'd crashed after dealing with the previous radio). "Augh!" he yelled, then groaned. "Hopps‽ The _hell_ \- Hey! Come back here!"

The door swung open to reveal a madly giggling Judy dropping to the floor from the handle. She darted across the corridor and scooped up the camera, which seemed to be hidden behind something off to one side. The image shifted drastically as she dashed away, still giggling, until she managed to turn off the camera.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What the hell?" Gunther was the first to break the stunned silence. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously, this being AO3, I own nothing except my own OCs and plot lines. Disney's characters & original story are their property; Highway To Hell, including lyrics, belongs to AC/DC; I'm pretty sure Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons concertos were never copyrighted, but regardless, he owns his own work; Another One Bites the Dust is the property of Queen.
> 
> That all said, for those unfamiliar with the pieces chosen (or if you're simply interested/like good music), take a look at https://youtu.be/qfGggAGITwg?t=48s for one of my favourite instrumental covers of Highway To Hell. Try https://youtu.be/yv6jiqVmmSI?t=1m17s for a great, fun rendition of the lyrics too. Note: these are split up because I couldn't find a decent version of the song on youtube with both clear and punchy instruments and vocals that you could actually hear properly.
> 
> The 'wailing of a violin' that's mentioned is intended to be Nick/his audiences' response to the third movement, Presto, of the Summer concerto from Vivaldi's Four Seasons suite: https://youtube.com/watch?v=FKjqXOHw7fg  
> There's a lot more going on that just a squeaky violin, but I reckon that's the kind of description someone who's completely unfamiliar with classical music might give if pressed for a ten-word summary.
> 
> Neither Another One Bites the Dust nor Queen should need any advertising, but just in case, try https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz_DNrKVrQ8
> 
> Oh and before anyone starts yelling at Judy for going overboard at McHorn: yeah, something else happened; it was a mistake on McHorn's part :)


	10. Chapter 9: The Storm and its Eye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I intended for this to be done last weekend. Then my birthday happened, meaning time off, family visits, complete with grandmothers convinced I'm losing weight, and then the chapter mutated. Oh yeah, and the mutations necessitated a complete re-write, turning this into the longest chapter so far. And this is just part one. Whoops. Still, I think it was the right choice. The old version was exposition heavy and much less exciting ;)

Chief of Police he might be, with experience of just about everything the city could throw at a mammal and a famously unshakable stoicism, this was still an unusual and uncomfortable situation for him. He stared coldly at the lion sitting across from him, trying to decide how best to handle this mess. Eventually, once the mammal had started to squirm, he held out a hoof. Pawson visibly paled under his fur.

"Sir," he began.

Mason cut him off with a ferocious scowl. "Do you want me to play you the CCTV footage?" he rumbled. "The footage that shows you talking to some fellow officers and the accompanying audio which clearly crosses the lines of harassment and bullying?"

Pawson hung his head, unable to meet his eye. "Sir," he tried again, more weakly.

"BADGE! NOW!" Mason thundered, what little patience he'd had totally gone.

Slowly, regretfully, Pawson unclipped the badge from his uniform. It was a trembling paw that deposited it in Mason's waiting hoof.

Scowling at the cowed lion, Mason did his best to rein in his anger; it wouldn't help to continue yelling. "Pawson, you are suspended without pay as of right now until Internal Affairs decides otherwise." The words made the lion sink into himself further, almost as though he were hoping the chair he was in would swallow him. "I don't want to see you in this building again until IA decides what to do with you. Now get out."

It wasn't until Pawson had left his office and the door had swung closed that Mason allowed himself to sigh. It was an effort to not drop his head into his hooves. It had been six months since Fangmeyer approached him about Pawson's behaviour and expressed her desire for a new partner. Six months during which he'd received a steady stream of low-level complaints about the lion. It was never enough to take action more serious than warning him, which had done absolutely nothing.

Then, out of the blue, this morning he'd crossed so far over the line that he probably couldn't even see it any more. One of the pigs working in the records room had dropped a pen. That the mammal was elderly - approaching retirement, in fact - seemed to make no difference to Pawson. The lion's horrible, hate-filled diatribe had begun with him tearing into the poor mammal for being too fat to bend down properly and had lasted nearly half an hour. Every moment of which had been recorded faithfully from two separate angles, with the audio from two other more distant cameras still understandable.

The ZPD was more than just a team of mammals all doing the same job: the nature of their work meant that his officers had to trust each other to an incredible degree. Bastards like Pawson could _not_ be allowed to erode those bonds of trust from within - not unless he wanted a fractured force and a lot of dead officers on his hooves. It was rare that someone like that made it through the application process, interviews _and_ the academy, which was why he was so uncomfortable: this situation had never arisen before in his decade as Chief.

Shaking his head, he reached for his desk phone: he needed to speak to both Mammal Resources and Internal Affairs.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nadine couldn't help herself. She glanced over at Judy again and bit back a curse as the increasingly perceptive bunny met her darting eyes with her own.

"Okay, Nadine. Spill. What's eating you?"

She pondered how best to address the source of her discomfort and looked over at her partner for a moment. The bunny was entirely focused on her, a gently encouraging smile on her face. And that was all, she realised with a small start. Judy was normally so bouncy, so energetic, that half the time she'd be hurling out questions like a machine gun until she started getting answers. Deciding to test the waters, Nadine didn't say anything for a few seconds, turning her full attention back to the road. _Still nothing? Wow. I guess she really did take what I said to heart._ It had been weeks since they'd caught Weaselton and they'd had their little 'culture 101' chat, but this was the first _real_ test of that.

"Okay then," she said carefully, turning a smile of her own on the bunny in the passenger seat. "What happened on Friday night?"

Judy cocked her head, her smile slowly turning into a bad-girl smirk. "You really don't remember?" she asked, all too innocently.

Shooting her a playful growl, she replied haughtily. "Oh I remember _plenty_. Just not all of it."

"Oh really?" Judy asked, still the innocent.

"Yeah," she snapped, "really. I clearly remember it was all going fine until _you_ decided to challenge me."

"Oh, is that what you think happened?"

"Yeeeeeess," she responded cautiously, the uncertainty thick in her voice drawing the word out.

Judy's smirk ratcheted up another notch. "Not quite," she said brightly. "Let's go back a bit. Do you remember McHorn calling me cute?"

"Err, no," she admitted, a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Well, he did," Judy explained, for once not sounding too worked up about it. "That set me off, as you might expect -"

Nadine chuckled warily at that. Hopps' extreme distaste for the word was by now very well known in Precinct One. More than a pawful of officers had received death glares - strangely intimidating, given that the glarer was a bunny; some had found themselves sporting bruised arms; a few had even woken up on the mat in the precinct gym.

"- and then _you_ ," Judy continued, shooting Nadine a friendly glare, "joined the party."

"Wait what?" Nadine nearly yelped.

Judy nodded, still smirking. "You didn't call me cute directly, but you asked why I hated the word so much and if there was another word you could use instead whenever I do something that you thought was cute."

Nadine gulped. "Err, listen, Judy,"

She raised a paw, waving her partner silent. "Don't worry, Nadine, let me finish."

The tigress nodded, suddenly nervous.

"There was a bit of arguing about that, and then I decided I'd had enough and I'd agree to allow anyone who could beat in some kind of contest to call me cute. The rules were basically 'nothing stacked ridiculously against me', so nothing like 'first one to drag a full-size cruiser up a hill' or anything silly like that."

Nadine groaned wretchedly. "Tell me I didn't."

Judy nodded. "Yuuuuup!" she chirped. "Since we were in a bar, you decided on a drinking contest."

She groaned again, only resisting facepawing because that would probably have made them crash. "And you didn't talk me out of it because you weren't drinking tiger-sized drinks, so it wasn't stacked." Her ears twitched as the bunny's smirk cracked and she giggled.

"To be fair, we'd all already had a few and McHorn and a couple of the other guys were egging you on pretty energetically."

Pulling to a stop at a red light, Nadine let her head drop forward until she was resting her forehead against the steering wheel. "How much did we have?"

Judy giggled again. "Two and a half, three pitchers each, I think? Then you passed out under the table."

Not lifting her head off the wheel, she turned to her partner. "And you didn't?" There was a trace of hopefulness in her voice, though it was just a trace.

Judy shook her head. "I was definitely not sober," she began. "Green light, by the way."

Nadine jerked upright and slid the cruiser into gear. One of the many perks of driving a ZPD cruiser was you never had to put up with impatient drivers honking at you left, right, and centre.

"Anyway, yeah, I went and got some water and was more or less involved until we started packing up after last orders. McHorn helped you home and then I got him back on Saturday morning for calling me cute."

Nadine looked at her partner curiously. "You got him... Wait! The photo? The one in the break room?"

Judy giggled again. "Yup!"

"What... Where did that even come from?"

Her partner grinned, and it seemed far too toothy for a herbivore. "Oh, it was _hilarious_. I'm still not sure if I should send the video round the precinct, but it might be better to keep it for now so I've still got something on McHorn."

Nadine looked at her partner out of the side of her eye. "Judy... What did you do?" she asked, unusually timid. The rabbit was just about to respond when the radio crackled to life.

"All units, be advised we have a major traffic incident in the Tundra Town-Rainforest District tunnel." It was always strange to hear Ben sounding so serious and professional, especially given how she knew him off the clock. "The team on the scene think we might have to close off the entire tunnel -"

The partners shared an alarmed glance at that. For that to be the recommendation it had to be a very serious incident.

"- but that decision hasn't yet been made. Chief's coordinating with Fire and Ambulance services but he'll probably pull several of the nearest cruisers in to assist. No orders yet, but keep an ear on the radio 'cos we'll need to reorganise some patrols when that happens."

Before either of them could say anything Ben was on the horn again. "Zed one-twelve, you girls there?"

Leaning over the centre console, Judy reached out for the radio, business face on, showing no hint of their light-hearted chatter a moment ago.

"One-twelve here. What's up, Ben?"

"Hey, Judy, you two are pretty close to the tunnel right now. You might not want to get too far away for the next little while."

"Got it, Ben," Nadine spoke over her partner. "I'm driving so it won't be a problem."

"Hey!" Judy exclaimed indignantly.

Ben chuckled at her outburst. "Just keep your ears perked for new orders."

"Fine," the rabbit huffed. "We'll be waiting."

There was a minute of quiet in the car - Judy not-quite-sulking at Ben's jab and Nadine unsure whether to ask about the photo of McHorn or for more details of the evening. There was still something in particular she wanted to know about after all. Eventually she caved with a sigh.

"Hey, Judy?"

"Hmm?" came the distracted response.

"Friday night," she began hesitantly. Almost chuckling at how the rabbit's ears flicked upwards again at the change in subject, she took a moment to consider where they were and what the nearest access routes to the Tundra Town tunnel were. Turning off their usual patrol route to stay nearer the district border, she glanced over at her partner, feeling rather sheepish. "Did, erm... Ben said... Di- Did you do something to make me _chuff_?" She looked away quickly, not wanting Judy to see the blush that must have been shining clearly through the lighter sections of her fur.

"Chuff?" She sounded rather nonplussed. "And are you _embarrassed_?"

Nadine shifted in her seat. "Um, kind of like purring." There was a pause during which she could feel Judy's eyes on her.

"After I got my water, I went to the bathroom. When I came back you looked pretty comfy and I kind of, well, um..." The rabbit trailed off. Shooting her a quick look, Nadine was surprised to see it was her that seemed embarrassed now. She took a breath, then continued, the words falling out in a rush. "I kind of curled up in the crook of your neck."

Nadine raised an eyebrow. "Really?" she asked in amazement. You were okay being that close to me? _Me and my teeth,_ she added silently, grateful that Judy hadn't said anything about her avoidance of her second question. _She does seem to learn pretty quickly,_ she conceded with a tiny smile.

Judy shrugged bashfully. "Bunnies are usually pretty tactile," she explained in a quiet voice. "I um... It's not uncommon for family and friends to basically fall asleep in a big pile." She paused for a moment. "Sorry if I crossed a line there. But, er, in my defence, I was pretty drunk and like I said, you looked pretty warm and fuzzy and comfy and... I'll shut up now, sorry."

Nadine glanced over at her partner, suddenly struck by just how small Judy was as she curled into herself as far as the seatbelt would allow. Reaching over, she gently nudged Judy's shoulder with her paw. "Hey, relax," she offered. "It's okay, really."

Judy looked up at her. "Are you sure?"

Nadine bit back a slight wince. Judy may be learning quickly, but that proved that it was still a bit of a concious effort on her part to apply her knowledge. Nadine raised a paw, waving her partner quiet even as she spoke over the bunny. "Don't worry, Judy. Everyone makes mistakes." She took a breath, wondering how best to word this. "Close contact like that can be a lot more intimate for tigers, and for felines in general, I guess." She chuckled as the rabbit beside her went wide-eyed at that, her face a picture of mortification. " _Can_ be more intimate," she emphasised carefully. "Contact like that is usually reserved for immediate family and a few good friends."

"Oh carrot sticks!" Judy exclaimed. "I am sooooo sorry, Nadine!" She was blushing furiously and Nadine found herself idly wondering just how red her ears could go.

"Relax, Judy, please," she said with a chuckle. She nudged her partner's shoulder again. "I think we're pretty good friends, right? That means it's fine. Plus, the final judge of whether it was okay is me, and I'm telling you I don't mind."

"Zed one-twelve, come in please."

"One-twelve here, dispatch. What's the news, Ben?" Judy responded fluidly, a faint hint of embarrassment tingeing her voice.

Nadine took a sharp right, heading back towards the main tunnel entrance, just in case.

"Pretty bad, Judy," Ben replied sombrely. "We're pulling three cars each out of 'Forest and Tundra for now, including you, and closing off the tunnel."

Nadine winced and glanced at Judy. Despite still being pretty much a rookie, she seemed just as disturbed as she reached over and activated the lights.

"First reports indicate twelve vehicles involved."

"Twelve‽" Judy yelped as Nadine's eyes widened.

"Yeah, twelve." There was a moment's pause as even the ever-cheerful cheetah reflected on that. "Not sure what set it all off, but there's a tanker truck that's slid sideways and is blocking all four lanes. Four cars travelling in the same direction hit the back and side as it skidded and five oncoming had nowhere to go. One more managed to brake in time but got collected by the car behind. Just about the only good news we've got so far is that the tanker doesn't seem to have been carrying fuel or anything like it."

Nadine sighed in relief at that. It may have only been one bit of good news, but it was _good_. Whenever fuel tankers were involved, everything got a _lot_ more dangerous. Especially in the confines of a tunnel. Pulling out sharply onto the main road leading to the tunnel, Nadine collected herself. "Okay, Ben, we're about a minute out from the main entrance on our side. Orders?"

"Establish a roadblock perimeter," Ben said, coolly professional again. "Don't worry about diversions or traffic management, we'll get nearby patrols to handle that. Once the tunnel's sealed, the incident team want night-sighted officers to move in and assist Fire and Ambulance."

"Got it, Ben. Keep us in the loop."

"Huh. I wonder why only night-sighted officers are being asked to help?" Judy asked with a frown.

Nadine shrugged. "Fire probably wants to cut the power. The last thing you want is sparking wires or glowing hot broken bulbs near petrol spills."

Judy cocked her head in confusion. "But I thought we knew it wasn't a fuel tanker?"

Nadine shook her head, pulling to a stop at the tunnel entrance diagonally, trying to take up as much space as she could. "With twelve cars involved... Odds are pretty good that someone's ruptured a tank." They hopped out together and began to tape off the tunnel entrance. "You gonna be okay out here?"

Judy nodded. "I'm sure it'll be a little boring but someone's gotta keep an eye on it. I'll be fine."

Smiling at her somewhat resigned partner, Nadine gave her a gentle nudge with her foot. "Come on, it won't be that bad. And hey, we still need to finish going over Friday night, and I want to know all about that photo."

Judy grinned weakly. "Sure." She hesitated. "Be careful in there."

Nadine nodded, completely serious. "Don't worry, I will be. If you need any help -"

Judy cut her off with a nod of her own. "Yeah, I know."

Nadine turned and jogged away down the tunnel.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mason sighed as he went down to the break room. It had been a few days since he'd been down here - a busy few days - but he needed coffee and the break room was the nearest place to get it. Shouldering the door open, he stomped over to the coffee maker and snorted in displeasure: it was the same ageing contraption that had been sputtering away for years, despite several requests to the maintenance department to replace it. Their answer was always the same of course: _it works just fine, and if you want it replaced anyway then just quadruple our budget please_.

As he stood over the steaming machine, the door opened and one of his senior detectives walked in. Acknowledging the moose with a nod, he turned back to his coffee only to do a fast double-take, jerking his head around to stare at the cork board next to the door in horror. Peering at it, he sighed heavily as he scrunched his eyes shut.

"Greg," he said calmly. "Have you seen the cork board?"

There was a moment of silence, then: "Wow. What the hell?"

He groaned in horror. "It's actually there? There's actually a picture of a rhino wearing -"

"Yup." A beat. "And it's got a caption."

He let out another pained groan. "Dare I ask?"

Another beat. Then, with a trace of amusement: "I called her see, star, star, star."

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Judy was bored. There were no two ways about it, she was bored as a board. The bouncy bunny loved her job and well knew that most of the time it wasn't going to be anything like the pulse-pounding craziness of the Night Howler Conspiracy but even so, there was only so much she could take. There wasn't even another mammal to talk to!

Sighing, she let her feet bounce off the cruiser windows. Perching up on the roof was hardly the most professional image - though she refused to lean back, lest perching turn into lounging - but the position afforded her a clear view of the surrounding roads and pedestrians. Earlier on there had been a few enquiries about the closure, but as the morning bustle faded away and other patrols had started putting up diversion signs, traffic near the tunnel had faded away to just a handful of grumpy, resigned drivers.

The last one had snorted contemptuously - at finding a bunny manning the barricade or the existence of the barricade she wasn't sure - and driven off without even a grumble. That had been an hour ago. It was heading on towards lunch time now and she'd been staring at the tarmac for far too long. Still, she supposed, it must be better than trying to stare down the chief for nearly two days.

After Mister Big had called in a sighting of Doug, Bogo had sat down with Nick, one of Mister Big's bears who knew the area where the chemist was hiding inside out, and both SWAT and TUSK mission planners. They'd spent the whole night and most of the next day planning the raid, making it utterly bomb-proof; one way or another, Doug was going down. At the crack of dawn next morning, the TUSK unit had breached the back and sides of the building, cutting off any possible escape route while SWAT stormed the front entrance.

Doug of course, had not gone down without a fight. He'd set up booby traps and managed to hit several of the SWAT team with night howler serum. Despite everything though, he'd eventually been cornered by the TUSK troops - SWAT busy with containing their now savage colleagues. They hadn't been gentle; hardly surprising - it wasn't really in their job description. A pair of flashbangs chucked into the small room followed by a four-mammal squad charging in to apprehend the ram. Four mammals, in full combat gear. Combat gear covered in sharp buckles and boxy protrusions; knife handles and ammunition pouches; armour plates and torches.

After that, Bogo had personally handled Doug's questioning, working on the recalcitrant sheep for nearly two full days before he eventually conceded to a plea bargain: reduced charges in exchange for helping develop a cure for the night howler serum and further evidence against Bellweather and her goons.

Judy remembered how uncomfortable she'd been with the idea of Doug getting a light sentence as part of that deal when she heard about it. Just before she left for Bunnyburrow though, Bogo had met with her to explain several things and had reassured her that Doug wasn't likely to see the world outside a prison ever again.

"You see," he'd said gruffly, though with the barest hint of a smile. "The wording of the deal I offered was that he'd only be charged as accessory to whatever Bellweather is convicted of. That says _nothing_ about any other charges. Between them, he and the other sheep have given us enough to put them all away for a very long time. We'll see what sticks, but I'd be very surprised if he ever got out."

Whatever her misgivings, the fact was that Doug's assistance had been invaluable to the doctors. Within a week of agreeing to the deal, they were trialling a new antidote. A few days after that, she'd received her dose. Waking up in the hospital had been horribly disorientating: her last clear memory was of confronting Bellweather in the museum and the hustle she'd pulled with Nick.

He'd been right there when she came to, surprising her. Why would the fox she'd hurt so horribly be there? Her parents were there too, of course, and were beside themselves with worry and relief at her recovery. Nick hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise as her parents rambled back and forth. Tuning them out, she'd given him a small, uncertain smile. He'd returned it, sending a wave of warm contentment through her, before childishly sticking his tongue out at the backs of her parents' heads.

Fighting back a giggle at his ridiculous behaviour, she was rescued by a doctor coming in, informing them all that he needed to check up on her and that he expected she'd need plenty of food and rest, so they should all leave and come back tomorrow. Her father had grumbled at that but her mother rolled her eyes and began to steer him away.

"Well, Judy?" Bonnie had asked.

Judy had panicked, realising that they must have asked her a question. Nick was of no help, sitting quietly in the corner and grinning at the spectacle. In desperation she'd just blurted out the obvious thing. "Er, yeah, sure. Okay. Yes." She finished with a firm nod and an absolutely not forced smile. "See you tomorrow, guys."

Rolling her eyes again, her mother had responded in kind then led her father from the room.

"You've got no idea what you just agreed to, do you, Carrots?" Nick had asked with a smirk.

"Oh sush," she'd said, just before the doctor had pointedly cleared his throat.

Rolling his own eyes, Nick had stood to leave.

"I'll figure it out," she'd promised. Just as he reached the door she'd called out. "Hey, Nick." Waited until he turned back to her. "Thanks," she said softly, sincerely.

His answering smile was soft and genuine; no mask, no hiding behind sarcasm; not a smirk or a grin. A genuine, friendly smile. "Anytime, Judy," he'd replied just as quietly. It was the first time she'd heard him use her real name and it sent a strange thrill up her spine. "Now, I'll get out of here and catch you tomorrow, Fluff, or your doctor might just bite my head off."

The beaver hovering at the foot of her bed shot him a glare which of course rolled off like water from a duck's back before turning to her as the fox left the room. "I don't think I've ever met a more irritating mammal," he'd groused.

"He's not so bad, once you get to know him."

"Hmph. That I don't believe. In any case, how are you feeling, miss Hopps?"

"Judy? JUDY?"

"Huh?" She snapped back to alertness, chagrined to find Nadine standing in front of her waving a paw in her face. "Ohmygoshsorry!" she blurted, ears burning.

"Relax, nothing's going on out here, you're not in trouble."

"Sorry," she squeaked again.

Shaking her head with a small smile on her face, her partner certainly didn't seem angry. "It's fine, believe me, I know how it can get when you're on watch on your own. But look, that's not important right now: they need you inside."

"Really?"

"Yeah, there's a trapped pup - we think it's a pup - and none of the others can reach him."

"But- But, I'm not trained... I don't..."

"Judy, listen, it's pretty bad in there, there's lots of twisted up metal and the specialist small rescue teams haven't been called in because they wouldn't do any good. The tools they carry are too small and their machinery too weak to do anything. Fire needs some of the bigger bits of kit in there to free this pup but everyone else in there is at least three times your size. You can do this, Judy. That pup needs you."

Swallowing, she nodded nervously. "Okay, I guess."

Nadine smiled understandingly. "Don't worry, you'll do fine, I know it. And you'll have Fire talking you through everything as you go."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was the whimpering that did it. Unmistakably the sound of a kit in terrible distress, the horrible, heart-wrenching sound washed away all her doubts and fears, leaving nothing but iron resolve and steely determination to get them out.

She wasn't a shy bunny, and coming in to this she hadn't been timid, exactly. More like uncertain. Doubting whether she could help. The piteous sounds coming from the mass of twisted metal that used to be two cars simultaneously shattered her heart and reignited her determination, stoking it to new heights. Forget about making the world a better place; this was about making sure some poor innocent kit got to experience the world, full stop. Making it better wouldn't matter one whit if she couldn't help right here and now.

Moments after catching the noise, she'd gone from nodding meekly as the Fire and Rescue Service trio as they explained what they'd managed to sort out so far to "Okay, yeah, got it. Let's go!" They'd taken another minute to finish their briefing, the senior mammal concluding with a warning. "We think there's a good chance the tank's in rough shape. If we move too much stuff around we'll probably be facing a leak. I just hope it doesn't turn out too big." He looked sharply at her. "If we tell you to get out, you get out straight away, understand?"

She'd looked at the big horse in horror. "Are you seriously saying you'd ask me to leave the kit in that situation? If it comes to that, you're seriously asking me to leave a kit to burn alive?"

The horse held her outraged gaze and nodded sombrely. "I am. Hopps, believe me," he continued over the furious sound that she choked out. "None of us wants the kit to come to any harm. Hell, all of us wish we could get in there ourselves." He paused, face grave. "But we've all lost friends in rescues." He looked down and sighed heavily. "Look, Hopps, at the end of the day it's your life. If you choose to lay it down to rescue the kit, that's your decision. That sort of thing is between you and whatever gods you believe in." Lifting his head to meet her softened gaze, a note of relief crept into his pleading. "Just don't throw it away if there's no chance. Don't make us watch two of you burn to death if it only has to be one."

Nodding once, accepting his stance and the sentiment behind it, Judy sighed wearily. "I don't know if I'll be able to leave the kit when it comes down to it," she admitted slowly. "But I promise I'm not going to throw my life away for nothing either."

The grizzled horse looked at her for a moment before sighing and beckoning her over towards one of the rescue vehicles. Because nobody had been able to get into the twisted wreck they didn't know what equipment to provide her with initially. Erring on the side of caution, it was decided to send her in on a reconnaissance run first, armed with just a torch and radio. The earpiece and throat mic were welcome upgrades as they'd keep her paws free and the two cameras - one strapped to her chest and one hanging from the base of the non-radio ear - meant that the more experienced Fire and Rescue Service personnel would be able to guide her.

The cars were a mess, she realised as she was led over to them. The vehicles in question were the two that had avoided the tanker, only to collect each other. The lead vehicle had been a small/medium hatchback, painted a cheery light blue; typical modest family car: relatively cheap, plenty of space for shopping or suitcases, a reliable model. The second car was a sleek silver Furcedes, a typical wealthy businessmammal's car. The problem was, it was sized for a hippo.

The bonnet of the Furcedes had clipped the back right corner of the hatchback, sending the smaller car - in the midst of emergency braking - into an uncontrollable spin. Somehow the vehicle hadn't flipped as it was shunted sideways. Unfortunately, the loss in forward momentum caused by tyres screeching sideways instead of smoothly rolling along had caused the other car to spear into its side like a battering ram. The right side of the hatchback had folded around the right half of the bigger cars bonnet. That had pulled the Furcedes into a mild spin too. The end result was the hatchback crushed between the gleaming silver car and the tunnel wall, now webbed with a lacework of uncomfortably deep looking cracks.

Miraculously, the driver's compartment had been accessible and more or less intact. The Fire crews had managed to get the driver out long before she'd been called in, along with every other mammal. There was just the trapped kit left, somehow still alive in the back of the mangled vehicle. Nobody had even been able to get a clear view of the kit through the mess of twisted metal. Which was exactly why she was here.

"Okay, Jim," she said shakily, "in through the driver's compartment, yeah?" Knowing the throat mic would pick up her words didn't make it feel any less strange to be essentially talking to herself.

"That's right," the coyote's calm voice came back. "There's pretty much solid metal everywhere else so unless you rabbits can burrow a hell of a lot better than you let on, that's your way in."

The smooth assurance in his voice was incredibly reassuring. Jim had been part of the Fire and Rescue Service for twenty years, repeatedly refusing promotions to stay in the field to help both with running and taking part in rescue operations. The confidence he had in his mammals was astounding, as was how he'd almost instantly included her in that circle. She'd asked him about that just before she'd headed out.

"Because you're here," he'd said without the slightest hesitation. "You've just volunteered to put yourself in a pretty dangerous situation, to contort your way around sharp bits of metal, and to risk some pretty unpleasant deaths. All to help a mammal you've never met."

"That doesn't matter!" she'd exclaimed.

"Exactly," he'd nodded. "The fact that you don't know them doesn't make the slightest difference to you. The fact that you could die doing this probably never even crossed your mind, did it?"

"Not until you lot started going on about it," she'd admitted sheepishly.

He'd given her a strange smile, half sad, half proud. "That makes you one of us. Training or no, you got what it takes kit. I ain't had a rescue go bad in years and I'm sure as shit not gonna let this be the one that got away." He held out a paw for a fist bump.

"Damn straight!" she'd managed to choke out, raising her paw to his.

Drawing a deep breath, Judy nodded. "Alright. Let's do this."

Hopping up on to the bonnet of the blue car, she found herself still unconvinced about the plastic armour she was wearing. It was intended to protect her from any awkwardly-placed bits of sharp metal and in theory it was tough enough to protect her if anything come loose and moved around unexpectedly. The uncomfortably thick rubber under-suit and should be more than sufficient to shield her from broken glass too. The trouble was, it was seriously limiting her flexibility. Stepping forwards to examine the driver's seat, she felt more than heard the crunch of glass underpaw.

_Okay, fine. Maybe the suit_ is _a good idea._

Shining her surprisingly powerful torch in through the space the windscreen used to occupy, she winced. The driver's seat had been partly ripped out of the floor and shoved over, its side now squashed up against the passenger seat. Peering closer, she noticed a small gap.

"Jim, I've got a gap," she said, carefully angling her head so the head-cam would pick it up.

"I see it," the coyote responded slowly. "Careful, Hopps, you might be able to fit in there, but if you get stuck we're really in trouble."

"Copy. I'm gonna head in there, take a closer look," she said after a moment. "I'll talk to you before I do anything though."

"Roger that, Hopps."

Carefully clambering in past the remaining shards of glass, Judy lowered herself to the seat. She tried not to wince at the warped remnants of the door - it had been bent back out by the 'jaws of life' to rescue the driver. Worse was the crimson stain on the seat. Swallowing thickly, Judy realised the kit had gone silent.

"Hey, kit!" she called out, trying not to let any panic into her voice. "Are you still there? My name's Officer Hopps. I'm here to help you."

There was a faint sniffle. "O- Officer? You mean, like the police?"

"That's right," she said with forced cheer, lowering her torch towards the gap between the chairs. "I'm an Officer of the ZPD, the boys in blue." She chuckled weakly. "Well, I suppose more like the boys _and girls_ in blue."

The kit was silent for a moment. "But... You smell like... Well," he began hesitantly. "A rabbit." The last words were so soft, so filled with worry, that even Judy's ears were hard-pressed to make them out.

_Oh crap. Pleeeeeeaaaase tell me this kit hasn't been bullied by prey._ "That's right," she chirped as happily as she could. "First-"

She was cut off by a haunting whine of distress; unmistakably canid, and unmistakably terrified. "Oh no, please don't hurt me! I just wanna get out of here-" The panicked words were cut off by another heart-rending whimper.

Feeling like a hot knife was twisting through her heart, Judy blinked away tears and fought to keep her voice steady. "Hey, hey. Shh. Shh. It's okay, I promise. I'm not going to hurt you."

Her only reply was weak sniffling.

"Listen, kit, _please_. I'm an Officer. Helping people is what my whole job is about. I _swear_ , hurting you is the last thing I would ever think about."

Silence.

"Look, every day I go in to work smiling and happy because being an Officer means I can help people. That's all I ever wanted to do. Ever since _I_ was a little kit." She chuckled weakly. "I even did this silly school play when I was nine. I told everyone I was gonna be a cop."

A watery sniffle. "R- Really?"

"Yeah." She sighed, momentarily self-conscious of the mic picking up her every word. "I got bullied because of that, you know? Some kits didn't like the idea of there being a bunny cop." She paused to listen. The sniffling seemed to have stopped entirely now, which was probably a good sign. "That didn't stop me though. It took me a while, but eventually, despite what everyone else said, I made it. I became the first ever rabbit Officer and it's amazing, because now I really do get to help people every day. I would _never_ , **never** , want to hurt someone."

"You... You promise?"

"Yes," she responded instantly and firmly. "I promise. I'm not going to hurt you." She paused for a moment, a hint of a smile forming on her muzzle. "Hey, you know what?"

"What?" came the cautious reply.

"If I let anyone or anything hurt you, I promise I'll get my mum to never make me pudding again!"

"Really?" the kit squeaked, clearly shocked by the idea of never getting dessert again.

"Mmhm! Cross my heart and everything," Judy chirped, the cheer no longer entirely forced. "I'll even take you to see my mum so she can promise _you_ that she'll never make me pudding again."

"O- okay!"

Smiling in relief that the kit seemed to be calming down, she resumed her inspection of the gap and began to squirm down into the small space between the seats to get a closer look.

"Good job, Hopps," came Jim's voice in her ear. "Keep him calm. Sounds like he's had a bit of a rough time and keeping him cooperative will be really helpful."

Tapping her throat twice to indicate acknowledgement, Judy poked her torch further into the gap between the seat backs. It would be tight, that was for sure, but she thought she'd probably be able to fit if they could just open it up a little bit more. "Hey, kit," she called out as she worked. "What's your name?"

"Freddie," came the shy reply after a moment.

"Okay Freddie, are you all right?" she asked carefully. "Does anything hurt?"

"My head hurts," he said after a moment. "I think I hit it when everything went crazy."

"Okay, is there any blood?" Judy asked, concerned.

"No. I can't see any and I can't smell any."

"Okay, that's good, Freddie," she called. "If there's no blood it's probably just a small bump. Your head's probably going to hurt for a little bit but you'll be fine."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. I've bumped my head a few times, even got punched by a rhino once!" she admitted with a small chuckle. "Stuff happens to a lot of us but you can always bounce back."

"You got punched by a rhino‽" he squeaked incredulously.

"Yeah," she chuckled. "I did. But I wasn't going to let that stop me."

"Didn't that hurt?" he asked, worried.

"Well, yeah, it did," she conceded. "But I believed that I could get through it all. I believed I'd make it and everything would be okay. A lot of the time that's the most important thing." She finished her inspection and began to wriggle back up out of the gap between the seats.

"Really?" He didn't sound convinced.

"Really," she said firmly. "So how about it Freddie? Do you believe I'm gonna get you out of there?"

"Um, yeah, I guess."

"Oh come on, you can do better than that, Freddie! Do you believe me?"

"Yeah, yeah, I do."

"Do you _believe_ I'm gonna get you outta there?"

"YEAH!" he practically yelled. "Yeah, I believe you, Officer!"

"That's what I'm talking about, Freddie!" She grinned. "I'd give you a fist bump or a high-four but there's a chair in the way, silly thing." That got a little laugh. "Okay, Freddie, you're doing great, you know?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, you are. Just keep believing, okay?"

"Okay!"

"Great! Now, can you see my torch light?"

"Uh huh. Are you trying to come through between the chairs?"

"Yeah, that's right. I think it's the best way for me to reach you. Can you reach that gap or the light?"

"No," came the dejected response. "I can't really move very much. I mean, my feet are okay, I think, and I can move my head a bit, but there's a piece of metal in front of me. And the chair is kind of squeezing my shoulder."

"Okay, don't worry. Being stuck is easier to fix than being hurt!" She paused for a moment, working on her phrasing. "Freddie, are you going to be okay on your own for a little bit?"

"Errr..." there was a distinct note of panic in the voice.

"Hey! You said you _believed_ I'd get you out of there," she said as indignantly as she could.

"Er, well, yeah, I do."

"Good! Because I'm not abandoning you, Freddie. I just need to go and get some tools to help me get to you, alright?"

"O- Okay," he said, a little tremulously.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, Freddie, you hear me? I'll only be gone a minute or two." She started to climb the steering wheel, then paused. "Hey, Freddie?"

"Yeah?"

"How about you think up a joke while I'm gone?"

"Huh?"

"While I'm gone, why don't you think up the funniest joke you can for when I get back? You've got a couple of minutes, that should be enough time, right?"

"Erm... Okay, okay!"

"Great! See you in a couple of minutes, Freddie."

"Okay!"

Resuming her ascent, she clambered out onto the bonnet and carefully made her way back out to the big emergency vehicles where Jim was waiting in a huddle with a few other members of the Fire and Rescue crew. The group opened up as she approached.

"Nice job, Hopps," one of them offered as she arrived.

"Yeah, good work keeping the kit calm," Jim agreed. "We have a bit of a problem though: we're not sure how to get you to him."

Noting the sombre faces around her, Judy decided she may as well offer her idea. _Maybe they've forgotten just how much smaller than them I am?_ "Actually, I was thinking..." she trailed off, ears going stiff in surprise, as every one of the assembled mammals instantly turned their attention to her. "Ah... thinking erm..." she shook her head, determined to get back on track. "I was thinking that if we could somehow open up that gap between the seats a bit more, then I could probably squeeze through there."

There were some looks exchanged, some surprised, some disbelieving. Jim gave her a long, level stare. "Are you sure? We really don't need you getting stuck in there as well."

Judy hesitated a moment, suddenly acutely aware that there wasn't anyone who could rescue her if things did go wrong. "Yes," she said firmly. "I could _maybe_ , just about, mostly, get through now - though I'd have to loose the armour and stuff to do it. If we can make the gap a bit wider then I should be good to go."

Seeing the determination on her face, Jim sighed. "Fine. Let's figure out how to get that done, then."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nadine's tail flicked idly as she spotted the hyena again. _Third time in the last ten minutes he's poked his snout round that corner,_ she mused. Deciding to investigate, she pushed off the wall she'd been leaning against and began a slow, casual walk across the road. By the time she reached the building the hyena had been hiding behind, of course, there was no sign of him. Examining the street carefully, she retreated back to the cruiser, initially moving quickly to ensure that her back wasn't close to the potential ambush point for long.

Deciding to act on her feeling, she picked up the cruiser's radio handset and pulled it out through the passenger side window, leaning on the bonnet to keep an eye on the buildings facing the tunnel. "Dispatch, this is one-twelve, come in please."

"One-twelve, dispatch. What's up, Nadine?"

"Nothing concrete, but I've got a hyena here who keeps sticking his head around one of the buildings opposite the tunnel and checking things out. Could be nothing, but he could be scoping out the tunnel or me since I don't have a partner out here with me. Might be worth sending some backup my way."

"Really? Nothing's going on but you want backup?" Ben sounded pretty incredulous at the very idea of her requesting backup.

She sighed, not wanting to deal with that now. "Look, nothing actually illegal... Yet. But definitely suspicious." She paused, thinking quickly. "Look, we still don't know what set off the whole crash. Maybe there's something hot in one of the cars and someone wants it back. Maybe one of the cars is hot."

"Fine," Ben conceded after a moment. "There are a couple of cars within a few minutes of you. I'll talk to the Chief."

"Thanks, Ben. Let me know ASAP please."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Fat!"

Judy stayed frozen a moment longer then burst into hysterical laughter with a snort. "Oh- Oh my!" she sputtered after a moment, managing to tamp her laughter down to giggles.

"You really thought it was that good?" Freddie asked hopefully.

"Yeah," she panted, the laughter having used nearly all her breath. "Yeah, it was good, Freddie." She panted a little more, getting some breath back. "Okay. Let's see about getting through this gap then, huh?"

"Okay!" he responded enthusiastically, pleased that his joke had gone down so well.

It took all she had not to snort as she lay down on the passenger seat and extended the knife towards the base of the driver's chair. _Three-humped camels! Ugh._ That had not been the joke she'd been expecting to hear from a kit, that was for sure. _At least it wasn't Nick's version though_ , she thought with a large private smile.

Exchanging the knife for a much shorter hooked blade, she slipped the new tool into the incision she'd made and began to cut away the fabric and padding of the chair.

"Erm, Officer -" came a small, hesitant voice.

Judy's ears snapped down against her back. "Oh, silly me!" she exclaimed. "I should have told you _ages_ ago: call me Judy."

"Er, okay, um, Officer Judy."

She chuckled. "Just 'Judy' is fine."

"Oh. But I don't... I've never called a grown-up by their real name before."

"I get to use your _real_ name though," Judy pointed out with a trace of a laugh in her voice. _Ah, kits,_ she mused with a grin. Real _name! It's like something the kerfluffle would come out with._ "And anyway," she continued, "don't you call your friends by their _real_ names? Because I want to be your friend!" she finished hopefully.

"Really?" Freddie asked, a little uncertain, a little bashful. "You want to be friends?"

"Yeah, of course!" she replied cheerily. "Why wouldn't I? You sound like a great kit, _and_ you're funny as well."

Silence for a moment. Then, a little shakily, "Okay."

She paused, about to rip away the fabric she'd cut, concerned. Why was he reacting like this to an offer of friendship? _Maybe it's because I'm a rabbit?_ she wondered. _If he's had trouble with prey kits in the past then maybe that's way he's acting out a bit?_

"So erm, Officer - Um, I mean, Judy..."

"Yeah, Freddie?" she encouraged as he trailed off.

"Um. Do you... Do you know... Is my mum okay?"

An icy fist seemed to crush her chest at that. She had to say something, _now_ , before her silence was interpreted as the worst possible news. "I um, I don't know, Freddie," she managed, cursing herself for the tremble in her voice. There was a whimper from the back and she bit her lip, hard. _Hold it together, damn it! He needs you to be strong._ "I can probably find out though," she added quickly. "I'm wearing one of those cool radios that spies and secret agents get in the films, you know? I've got a thing in my ear and a tiny little microphone on my neck, so I can ask the other mammals out there working with me if they know anything, okay? It's gonna sound a bit like I'm talking to myself, but I promise I'm not crazy, I'm just using my radio, okay?"

There was a sniffle, then: "O- Okay."

"Hey, Jim," she began clearly and loudly enough for Freddie to hear. "Do you know anything about Freddie's mum?" she asked, praying for news that was at least not unambiguously bad.

"Sorry, Hopps," came the response. "We've got crappy radio reception down here. No way are we getting through to the hospital or dispatch for an update. Best I can give you is a guestimate from when we got her out."

"That's fine, just give me something please."

"Right." The radio went silent with a click and she barely had a moment to wonder about that when she heard a yell from outside. "Oy! Mike! Channel eight!" The radio clicked again.

"What's up, boss?" came a new voice, presumably Mike.

"You're on vox with Hopps, inside the blue hatchback that got mashed by the Furcedes," Jim explained.

"Hey, Hopps," Mike acknowledged. "Thanks for helping us out. We'd be in a pretty sticky situation without ya."

"The kit inside is asking about his mum. What was your assessment?" Jim asked, patiently ignoring the interruption.

"Right, right. Erm, blue wreck, blue wreck... Ah yeah! Driver... Ah... Lots of bruising, possible ribs, erm, maybe broken arm? Should be fine, as long as there wasn't any sneaky internal bleeding or deeper damage. Certainly not the worst we've pulled out."

"Okay, thanks, Mike. Off-channel please." There was another click.

"So she's okay?" Judy asked hopefully.

"Yeah," Jim responded smoothly. "There _is_ a chance we missed some internal damage - we're not medics after all - but the rest is pretty boring-ordinary for a crash. Bruising and ribs is gonna be from the seatbelt. The arm probably just got stuck in an unfortunate position and from the sounds of it is less 'second elbow' and more 'compound fracture'. Like Mike said, far from the worst we've pulled from a wreck."

Judy breathed out shakily, not liking the sound of the assessment all that much. "Okay, thanks, Jim." She took a moment to steady herself. "Freddie?" she called.

"Yeah?" he responded, clearly extremely nervous.

"The other rescue mammals got your mum out pretty quickly," she began. "They think she might have hurt her arm and she's probably gonna have quite a lot of bruises from the crash-" There was another heart-rending whine at that news. "But!" she exclaimed, determined not to let him panic. "They're also pretty sure she's gonna be absolutely fine. You hear me, Freddie?"

There was a faint, tremulous, "Yeah," from the back.

"They took her to the hospital just to be safe, and we'll go see her as soon as I get you out of here," she finished resolutely.

It was quiet in the car for a while after that. She finished with the driver's seat, exposing some of the metal frame, and did the same to the passenger side chair. Standing up on the seat, she reached out onto the bonnet and hauled the jack into the car. Not willing to use heavier, powered tools in case they moved too much of the already weakened bodywork, the plan she, Jim and the others had come up with was almost laughably simple. The jack was designed to allow a single mammal to winch the full weight of a car up off the ground. It should be more than sufficient to bend a few thin metal pipes, even if winding the big screw in and out wasn't the fastest thing in the world.

Getting the clanking contraption in place, Judy began to turn the crank, smiling at how easily the bent metal of the seat frames parted. She pushed the base of the chairs out wider than she needed then unwound the jack. With the release of pressure, the surrounding warped metal rebounded slightly but the gap was still big enough for her. Smiling, she lifted the jack up a bit and repeated the process, gradually widening the inverted v-shaped cleft between the seats into a smoother 'u'.

She kept talking to Freddie nearly the entire time, keeping his mind busy with jokes and the occasional story. He wasn't keen on sharing much, but conceded to a few tales of schoolyard pranks that had her giggling madly. Eventually there was a gap large enough for her to fit between the seats.

"Okay, Freddie, I'm just gonna have a quick word on the radio, okay?" she asked.

"Sure," he said happily. Judy was relieved that he'd recovered some good cheer. For a while after he'd asked about his mum she'd been worried about how morose he sounded and how little he'd said.

"Okay, Jim. I think I'm about ready to head in, you agree?"

"Yeah, looks like you should have space now. Just be careful."

Laying down on her side, she started to wriggle and squirm her way into the gap that had opened up between the chairs.

"Hey, I can see your ears!" Freddie exclaimed happily and she sheepishly realised that her ears were leading. The protective gear she wore had been mostly cut down or otherwise adjusted from surplus that the rescue crew happened to have on hand. Unfortunately there had been no way of shielding her ears so they were completely exposed to whatever sharps or other dangers that might be lurking in the gloom of the rear compartment.

She twitched one side to side in a weak imitation of a wave. Putting on a ridiculously stuffy voice, she allowed the tip to waver back and forth. "Oh, hello there, young man. I'm Officer Hopps' left ear, how do you do?"

There was a burst of laughter at that and she chuckled too, pulling herself further into the compartment.

"Hey, Freddie?" she called out, her voice somewhat muffled since her mouth was pressed into the side of a mutilated chair. "Can you tell me if I'm about to bump my head on anything as I come through please?"

"Uh huh, sure," he said cheerily.

She was reluctant to speed her progress by pushing off something with her legs as she was uncertain whether she'd smash her head into something if she did. That said, it was sorely tempting a minute and a half later when she'd just finished squeezing her head through the gap. The tiny torch attached to her ear cam allowed her to see in the otherwise pitch dark - her own body was blocking out the small amount of light that was able to filter in through the front.

"Hey, Freddie," she called up to the kit sitting above her. The kit with a nervous smile on his pointed little muzzle. The kit with huge golden eyes, pointed ears and a nervously twitching nose. The kit with deep crimson fur.

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"Zed one-twelve, dispatch. Come in please."

"One-twelve here. What's the news, Ben?"

"We've had a similar report to yours from the precinct eight guys down at the other end of the tunnel," the cheetah explained, dead serious. "They've got a couple of arctic wolves nosing around, also possibly scoping out the tunnel."

"Shit," she grunted.

"Yeah," Ben agreed sombrely. "We're sending two cars your way. ETA on the first is four minutes."

There was a deep bass rumble from a street or two over; a large diesel engine working hard. Nadine frowned. There shouldn't be any lorries around here and the local bus had gone through not a minute ago.

"Copy that, Ben," she acknowledged. "Who am I ex-"

She was cut off as the growling engine noise crescendoed and a bin lorry came careening around the corner of the building the hyena had been watching her from. Tyres squealing and screeching as they lay down thick tracts of rubber, the enormous vehicle barely made it through the corner without fishtailing and Nadine's eyes widened as it straightened out, hurtling right at her.

"SHIT! GetthatbackuphereNOWBen!" she roared into the radio. Dropping to all fours, she sprinted out from behind the cruiser and dived, hoping she'd gotten far enough away that the truck would miss.

There was a great grinding crunch of metal and plastic in a relationship-ending argument behind her and she came out of her lateral roll onto paws and a knee staring at the tableau in bewilderment. The bin lorry had shunted the three-ton ZPD cruiser across the road and mashed it into the side of the tunnel entrance. If she'd not moved when she had, the impact wouldn't have left anything more than a patch of bloody jelly on the concrete where she would have been pushed.

Swallowing, she glanced up into the cab of the lorry and narrowed her eyes. There was a hyena in the driver's seat. Even as she looked, he groaned and pushed himself upright, groggily looking around before turning back to the controls. The engine coughed and sputtered as he tried to turn it over, apparently determined to come at her again. Getting to her feet, Nadine growled viciously, intending to put a stop to this _right now_.

She hadn't taken more than a step before there was a distinctive cackling laugh behind her. "Hello, kitty," came a raspy female voice.

The clack of claws on asphalt told her there were two mammals approaching. _Ben, you'd better have been right about that backup!_ She turned slowly, striving to project an air of confidence. Not usually one for vanity, she had never had much reason to practise the haughty, condescending look that felines like Pawson spent so long perfecting. Nonetheless, judging by the slight uncertainty on the faces of the two hyenas approaching her, her own feline nature was up to the task.

Striving to look as bored and unconcerned as if she were out for a leisurely stroll, she looked over her assailants. Two hyenas, both female; big, tough ladies, each with several lines of missing fur visible. The one on her right was slightly bigger and clearly the one who'd spoken so derisively - the long, ragged scar that traced along her left collarbone right to the hollow of her throat a dead giveaway. " _Kitty_?" she asked pleasantly, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms.

The smaller hyena hesitated at her attitude but the larger kept advancing without pause. "Yah, _kitty_. Gonna be a bad day for ya." She cracked her knuckles and grinned, showing chipped and crooked teeth.

Not wanting to put herself at a disadvantage, Nadine uncrossed her arms and settled into an unarmed combat stance. Extending her claws slowly, her expression hardened. "Oh no I'm not," she crooned menacingly. "It's you lot that just attacked a SWAT officer, unprovoked."

The smaller hyena stopped advancing at that, glancing at her nervously. The larger didn't seem to hear, beginning to look back at her companion. She lashed out without warning; a powerful blow that would have dazed her had it landed. Fortunately, Nadine had seen it coming a mile off, the hyena's stance clear, looking away an obvious attempt at a distraction. Nadine took advantage of the opening the move offered, swinging out a looping left hook that caught the hyena square on the jaw as she turned her head back towards the tigress. She stumbled back, wisely trying to get some space between herself and her opponent, left arm flailing in a poor attempt to keep the tigress back.

Nadine stepped inside the reach of the hyena's claws, grabbing her upper arm and yanking backwards. Her attacker's stomach met her knee and the breath exploded out of her body. Before she even had a chance to gasp, Nadine was advancing again, using the hyena's arm as a lever to practically throw her onto her back. She hit the ground with a muted thump just as, over by the tunnel, the driver finally managed to get the bin lorry to start again. He began to back away from the wrecked cruiser, oil and other fluids leaking from both vehicles.

Nadine grunted as the smaller of the two hyenas that had been on foot crashed into her side, a crude tackle that nevertheless dislodged her from the other hyena. Her first opponent gasped weakly, fighting for breath even as her new opponent let loose a barrage of simple jabs into her side. Most caught her ribs as she rolled with the tackle, intending to use the hyena's own momentum to flip her off. Unfortunately, a couple of the punches found a kidney or her stomach and she fluffed the move, both of them ending up on their sides.

The lorry finished backing up and Nadine was taken by surprise when, instead of moving off again, the driver killed the engine. Her distraction cost her though, as her writhing opponent managed to claw her front. Hissing in pain, Nadine snapped back to the fight, spitting in the hyena's eye and kneeing her, hard. The hyena grunted at the impact and cursed in disgust as Nadine used the window she'd created to begin working her way around behind her opponent.

The hyena must have realised what she was intending to do because she panicked, thrashing and kicking wildly. Of course, that only made it easier for Nadine to move, the flailing limbs and bucking body providing plenty of gaps to move into. Her greater size and strength gave her a huge advantage in any grappling contest but the hyena had clearly received very little training, if not being entirely self-taught through brawling.

Mentally sighing in exasperation - _Why is it that criminals never think about getting unarmed combat, or even old-school self-defence training?_ \- Nadine hooked her opponent's arms and flipped them over onto the hyena's front. She shifted her grip, moving to hold both wrists in one paw, using her elbows to support her entire upper body. Elbows that were planted firmly in the hyena's exposed kidneys. Grabbing the cuffs from her belt, she slapped them onto the hyena's wrists before pushing them down to her back.

Pushing off the back of her ribs, Nadine forced every scrap of air from her subdued opponent's lungs even as she used the push to get herself back on her own feet. "Stay down," she snarled. Her eyes flicked up at the sound of claws on asphalt again and she ducked, instinctively raising an arm to protect herself. She roared in agony as the knife sank into her upper arm.

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It had taken quite a bit of squirming but eventually she'd made it into the rear of the car. As expected, there wasn't much room to move around, never mind work. Despite that, she'd managed to check Freddie over reasonably thoroughly. Apart from the bumped head - confirmed by the clear lump on his forehead - there was an extensive pattern of bruising down his side from the impact and seatbelt but nothing more serious. _At least, nothing visible._ Judy had had to suppress a shiver as she thought of Mike's talk of internal damage. _Still, if he's still okay after this long..._

The metal spar that had somehow taken nothing more that a tuft of fur from the young tod's chest was now the centre of her attention. There was no way she'd be able to use the jack or any of the larger tools to help here - not unless she wanted to start putting holes into the kit's chest herself. She whistled softly. "Wow, Freddie. You must be the luckiest kit I've ever seen."

He shrugged awkwardly, the movement stiff thanks to the bruising and made short enough to be barely visible by the way he was confined. "Not lucky enough," he muttered, eyes downcast.

"Hey, none of that now!" she admonished. "Look at you," she gestured. "That bar somehow missed you, the chair's not so badly bent that you're in trouble and despite the absolute mess this car's in, there was somehow a big enough gap for me to wriggle through. Not to mention I happened to be one of the Officers near enough to be sent to help when all this happened."

He gave a weak smile at the conviction in her voice. "I guess."

She smiled back and laid a paw on his shoulder. Ordinarily she'd have squeezed reassuringly but given the kit's bruising, that wouldn't be the best idea. Regardless, he seemed to draw comfort from the gesture.

Jim's voice sounded in her ear. "Hopps, we're killing the lights."

"What's up, Jim?" she asked, pointing at her throat mic to make it clear to Freddie what was going on.

"We've got a leak from one of the other vehicles. Looks like transmission fluid, but we don't want to take the chance." His voice was slightly strained with worry. "We'll get it checked out as quick as we can but either way we probably won't turn the lights back on. You gonna be okay with the torches?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," she replied smoothly. Almost all her vision was thanks to the small but powerful torch attached to her ear anyway.

"Good," he responded with a sigh. "And Hopps: get started on that spar. The longer this takes the more risky it gets."

"Gotcha," she said, resisting the urge to nod. "It's gonna take a while with the wire though."

"Yeah. Just get going."

She tapped her throat twice then slipped the cutting wire from her belt. Looping it around the spar, she pulled it taught. "Okay, Freddie, this is gonna sound pretty nasty and you need to try not to breathe too much of the dust that comes off here. Can you do that for me?" The kit nodded and she set to work, hauling back and forth on the plastic handles. Fortunately, the spar was aluminium, not steel. As a result, the diamond-coated titanium wire was able to bite into the soft metal with relative ease and she was nearly a third of the way through by the time she paused for breath.

"Whew," she said, theatrically wiping an arm across her forehead. "Hey, Freddie? Wanna switch places for a bit?"

He chuckled, nodding at the spar. "Might be a bit difficult before you finish."

"Ah, darn it!" she exclaimed playfully. "You'll have to give me a minute to rest then."

She was nearly through the spar when a crunching noise echoed down the tunnel. It was a little muted in the back of the wreck but still clear enough to her. Stopping her sawing, she pointed at her throat again and Freddie nodded his understanding.

"Jim? What was that?"

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"No idea, Hopps," Jim said, worried. "But it must have been pretty bad for us to hear it in here. I'll send someone to take a look."

"Okay. Keep me in the loop."

"You got it."

Mike came jogging up to him. "Hey, the leak from vehicle four?" he said.

Jim nodded, expecting good news given his friend's demeanour.

"Just transmission fluid. Possibly a bit of brake juice in there as well."

"That's a relief," he sighed, grateful that the situation wasn't worsening. "Could you-" He was cut off as a roar echoed down the tunnel. Glancing towards the distant tunnel entrance with a shiver, he was about to resume speaking when the growl of an engine reached him.

"Shit!" Mike grunted. "Tunnel's supposed to be closed. The hell's going on?"

"Jim!" Hopps called at almost the same time. "What's going on out there?"

"Dunno, Hopps," he replied quickly. "Sounds like someone's gotten into the tunnel." It was difficult to see through the glare of the headlights, but the engine didn't sound like it was slowing. "Hopps, get out of there, now," he ordered sternly. "I really don't like the look of this."

"Why?" she demanded.

"There's a truck coming right for us," he explained, squinting. He was about to order her out again when the growl of the engine rose rapidly in pitch and volume, headlights converging on the gleaming Furcedes. "SHIT! Hopps, he's gonna ram you!" Jim yelped. "Get outta there!"

Rescue mammals were diving out of the way of the speeding truck, hopping the central barrier or running for the tunnel wall. Jim felt the wind of the truck's passage as it roared past him and didn't have time to do anything but stare after it as it ploughed into the boot of the Furcedes, denting the thick bodywork and shunting the car further onto the blue hatchback. There was a crack as the vehicles shifted and a chunk of the damaged tunnel wall broke away. Jim could do nothing but watch in helpless horror as the thick slab of concrete crashed down onto the roof of the hatchback, crushing it completely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, made it to the end at last. Not sure if I managed to describe the crash and the damaged vehicles properly. I have a kind of semi-understandable diagram if anyone wants me to try uploading it... Anyway, like I said at the top, this is just part one. Part two will be out as soon as I can get it fully written, which will hopefully be before you all fall from that cliff that I've left you hanging on to. I'm pretty sure this version is much better than what I had before and in any case, it integrates into the next few chapters more smoothly and lets me avoid a couple of corners I might have written myself into otherwise. I hope.
> 
> Oh yeah: in hindsight, I really should have seen the disruption around my birthday coming. It _is_ kind of an annual thing, after all...
> 
> Remember: comments are love, comments are life!
> 
> Until next time :)


	11. Chapter 9.2: The Storm and its Eye, Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know. I promised this would be done quickly. Unfortunately it turns out that getting ill and spending a week coughing my lungs up has a pretty literally lethal effect on my ability to concentrate, never mind engage emotionally with people - in this case the characters I'm trying to write about - which is something I struggle with at the best of times. Most of this has been written in the last day and a half and while there are still definitely some rough edges, I think it's good enough to be released. Unless you _want_ me to keep you dangling off the edge of that cliff for another couple of days?

"Nooooooooooo!" She flopped her head forward, every bit as dramatic as she'd been in the museum.

The fox who seemed determined to prove himself the bane of her existence just snickered where he sat. "Come on, Carrots," he said after a moment, almost managing to sound serious. "It can't possibly be as bad as that."

Groaning, she mumbled some choice words into her chest. Her parents, the mayor, a snarky fox, Chief Bogo, her parents, and the fox all featured, of course. "You don't understand, Nick," she tried to explain, the misery she was fighting to contain nevertheless contaminating her words. "They never really wanted me to make it as a cop and I know they'll take this to mean I'm happy to give up and move back to Bunnyburrow permanently."

"Then why did you agree?" he asked, seemingly genuinely puzzled.

"Because I had no idea what they'd just been talking about!" she huffed, crossing her arms. "Which is _your_ fault."

" _My_ fault?" he squawked, the picture of indignation.

"Yes," she declared firmly. "You were distracting me."

The room was silent for a minute then, neither of them sure what to say. Judy started to feel a little silly for getting annoyed at him. After all, it wasn't as though Nick knew her parents.

"Hey, Fluff," he said softly, not quite emotionless but clearly hiding his real feelings. "I'm s-"

She reached out and grabbed his muzzle, determined not to let him feel guilty over another of _her_ mistakes. "No, Nick," she said gently. "You don't apologise. It's my fault and I'll figure out a way to sort it out."

He held her gaze for a moment then nodded gently. She removed her paws with a sad smile, placing them in her lap and staring at them as she tried to figure out what on earth she was going to do about her predicament. Starting as a russet paw slowly entered her field of vision and descended gently to rest on her arm, she sniffed, eyes suddenly watering, and looked up. The master hustler, the archetype of the sly fox, mister 'never let them see that they get to you' had dropped his mask. The haughty, jaded, cynical con man was gone. In his place was the best friend she'd ever made, compassion clear in his eyes. He really was a better friend than she deserved.

"The countryside, family, farming..." he shrugged, his expression staying as open as she'd ever seen it. "It's not really my thing. But if you need a paw..." he trailed off again as she nodded weakly, another small sniff and rapid blinking accompanying the motion.

"Thank you, Nick," she said thickly.

Silence descended gently again, companionable and comfortable this time. "Well, it's getting pretty late, so I should probably go," he suggested after a little while.

Chuckling weakly, Judy nudged his shoulder. "Says the fox that snuck into my room after the doctor said I needed to rest."

He coughed, mask slipping smoothly back into place as he stood.

_Was that_ embarrassment _‽ Was_ Nick _embarrassed?_

"See you in the morning, Carrots," he dodged, not meeting her eye and slipping out of the room before she could formulate a coherent reply.

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Judy bolted upright, screaming. She glanced around wildly, ears flapping at the frantic motion as she patted at her throat and chest, desperately searching for wounds. Heart pounding, panting desperately, she curled into herself as tightly as she could, instinctively shielding herself as terror coursed through her.

Minutes later she'd calmed enough to notice a faint tapping at the door. Determined to ignore the world, she uncurled herself just long enough to burrow under the blankets before wrapping herself in a tight ball again. A faint scent eventually began to register; something weak enough that she hadn't noticed it before but distinct enough in the confined bubble of still air under the blankets for it to cut through her remaining fear. She couldn't quite identify it - not that she was trying particularly hard at that moment - but it was tickling at something in the back of her mind. Regardless of what exactly it was, it was comforting, somehow. Drawing a deep breath, she felt some of the tension leave her.

"Judy, are you okay?"

She realised the tapping on the door was someone gently knocking. Someone, judging by the somewhat muffled voice, to be Nick. It took her another few seconds to regain enough control to answer.

"Y- Yeah," she called weakly. "I'm- I'm okay."

Silence for a moment.

"Can I come in?"

_Why does he sound so nervous? Almost scared?_ "Sh- Sure," she called, voice still muffled under the blanket.

The door clicked and there was the rhythmic tapping of claws on the floor. She heard him stop a pace or two away; something she was grateful for given the nature of her nightmare.

"Bad dream?" he asked gently.

She stiffened in surprise, having expected a joke about being a quivering lump under the blankets. "H- How did...?"

Apparently not needing her to finish, he responded slightly sheepishly. "You're, ah, not alone there, Fluff."

She took another deep breath of the comforting air under the blankets - she still couldn't quite place it, but it was definitely familiar - then began to shift. She stopped once she'd revealed an eye and looked at him, faint curiosity beginning to bubble up, displacing some of the lingering fear. There was enough light leaking through from the hall that her dark-adapted eyes were able to make out vague details even though he'd not turned the lights on.

He rubbed the back of his head, ears splayed. "I, ah, I've been sleeping badly for a while." He shrugged. "Pretty much since the museum, really."

"I- Is that... Why... Earlier?"

"No!" he protested. "I wanted to make sure you were okay." After a moment he dropped his head. "And also kind of a little bit," he muttered, shame colouring his voice.

"Nick-" she paused to sniff, finally stopping her trembling. Scooting along the bed a bit, she slowly levered herself into a sitting position against her pillow, still clutching her legs to her chest. She kept the blankets wrapped tightly around her, mindful of the comfort she'd drawn from being wrapped up in them, but let more of her face emerge. "I- It's okay, you know?" she continued eventually. "I think... Anyone would have... Some trouble... Dealing with..." trailing off, she attempted to gesture with one paw. She'd momentarily forgotten about being bundled up though, resulting in an undignified lurch as she caught herself before she could turn turtle on her side.

Nick shifted uncomfortably and slipped his mask on again, hiding his real self from the world. Despite that, she could see the small smile he gave her was genuinely sad. Whether that was due to not believing her or from self-doubt or self-deprecation she didn't know. "Well, ah, if you're okay..." he gestured towards the door and began to turn away.

"Stay with me," she blurted.

He stopped, facing the door. "Are you sure you want to be around me right now, Carrots?" he asked, almost without inflection.

Her face fell and despondency filled her voice. "Oh. It's okay, Nick. I only asked because I thought we were back to being friends. You can go if you want."

He turned back to face her, puzzlement clear in his expression. "What do you mean? I forgave you, remember? Of course we're back to being friends." He hesitated. "Unless -"

"No, no," Judy shook her head as much as she could from within the tightly wrapped blankets. "I do want to be friends."

He cocked his head. "Then why...?"

"Why _wouldn't_ I want you to be around? I asked you to stay, remember?"

"It's not about being friends, Carrots. I was thinking more about, you know, your dream."

"Oh." Spelled out like that it was rather obvious. _After that dream I think I can let myself off for not thinking completely clearly!_ She saw him start to turn away again. "Nick," she called again, more softly. "You're the only one I want around right now." She saw his ears splay out again at that, this time nearly disappearing into the outline of his head. He'd frozen at her words and for a moment she was worried he'd walk away.

"Not even your parents?" he asked cautiously.

She considered that for a moment. "I guess," she said slowly. "But curling up with my parents for comfort sounds a lot more... I don't know, kit-ish? Than doing it with a friend."

He turned back to her again. "You want me? For comfort?"

She nodded timidly. "You... You were one of the only mammals that _didn't_ go savage in my dream," she admitted quietly.

His eyes widened in surprise at that. "Really?"

She nodded again, feeling her eyes start to well up again. _I don't deserve this. I don't deserve_ him _, not after everything I've done to him._ "Bellweather, Chief Bogo, the rams from the train." She sniffed, fighting not to start crying again. "My neighbours, even a couple of my siblings." She buried her face behind her knees, not wanting to guilt him into staying.

"A whole bunch of people you know, including some of your family, and I _didn't_?" he asked the top of her head, incredulity shining like the sun.

She didn't answer; she couldn't.

A moment passed in silence. "Do you... Do you want a hug?"

She nodded, still unable to look at anything, especially not him.

He shuffled closer slowly, careful to keep his movements controlled and predictable until he reached the edge of the bed. Gently, ever so gently, he reached around her and began to scoot the entire bundle of rabbit and blanket across towards him, alert for any sign of distress at the motion. None came as Judy basked in the scent from earlier. It had gotten weaker as she sat up and spoke to Nick but hiding her face near the blankets seemed to be making it stronger again.

After a minute of careful motions she felt herself being wrapped gently in his arms. Savouring the sensation, she sighed in contentment, feeling the tension draining out of her. Raising her head, she found their positions were such that it was the easiest thing in the world to rest her cheek against his chest. "Stay with me?" she asked, more certainly this time as the steady throb of his heart and the gentle rhythm of his breathing rocked her in his embrace.

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"Oh my! Judy!" a familiar voice cried out.

She jolted awake but didn't move or open her eyes. Her mental grumbling at the shout was interrupted by another voice that she knew but didn't bother to place.

"What the‽ Judy! I- What‽"

There was a thump and she reluctantly started taking stock of her surroundings. Aside from the muttering coming from whoever had yelled at her, she was warm and comfortable, though still sleepy. Something was rocking her gently and there was a strange, slightly musky, slightly flowery scent surrounding her, banishing the cold, clinical antiseptic stench of the hospital.

"Judy!" the voice called again, though it sounded a little different.

_Ugh, leave me alone!_ she whined internally.

"Judy, please wake up!" The voice was definitely different now.

The smell was changing too. No longer comforting, she couldn't put a finger on what exactly was different, but something in it had changed, of that she was certain.

"Ugh," she managed to groan feebly.

"Judy!" came the cry again. "Oh my gosh, Judy! Are you okay?"

Her head was pounding: throbs of pain laced with nausea that pulsed in time with the faint red speckles that had appeared in her vision, despite her closed eyes. Reluctantly she forced her eyes open, groaning again at the horrible sensations in her head as well as at the effort the simple task took. Nothing changed. She gave a sort of combined blink and wince. _What the_ hell _?_

"Judy!" someone grabbed her in a weak hug.

"Wha...?" she managed to croak.

"Oh, Judy! I was so worried!"

She turned her head slightly, wincing at the increasing throbs the motion caused. Wherever she was it was very dark with only a faint speckle of light coming from somewhere behind her. _Speckle?_ There was dust in the air, she realised. Thick enough that it was visible even in the low light. The dry, sticky smell of it registered at the same moment and she scrunched up her muzzle in response. She groaned, squeezing her eyes shut a moment later at the fresh wave of pain.

"Can you see okay?"

A few memories began to filter into her conscious mind. "Fr- edd- i?" she croaked.

"Yeah, I'm here," the kit responded eagerly. "Oh, Judy, I'm so glad you're okay!"

She groaned, then forced her eyes open. Though it hurt, she forced herself to lick her lips - mentally grimacing at the taste of dust - and swallowed, trying to lubricate her parched throat. "Wha- What happened?" she asked into the darkness.

"I dunno," Freddie said excitedly, his worry either forgotten or unable to subdue him any more. "There was some noise outside, you were on your radio and then you were moving _really_ fast and you got through the metal and you grabbed a knife and cut the seatbelt and pulled me down here," he explained in a rush.

_How does he have so much breath?_

"I think something hit one of the cars because everything moved and then there was a crash and something squashed the top of the car and I was really worried because you weren't saying anything and I could see your eyes were closed and I was so worried that you were really hurt."

"I'm not gonna lie, Freddie," she said weakly. "I'm not feeling so good."

"Oh." The disappointment and fear in his voice was as plain as day.

"Hey," she gasped as her left wrist began to throb in time with her head. "I'm still gonna get you out of here," she promised. "Are _you_ okay?"

"Yeah," he said sadly. "But now you're hurt because you tried to help me."

Deciding to sit up was a mistake. A huge mistake. She half gasped, half hissed in agony as her arm moved and pain lanced through the limb from her wrist, stabbing into her head and nearly whiting out her vision like a blast of sheet lightning. She'd barely begun to move and when her vision cleared and she could think again, she found she'd flopped back to where she'd started. Groaning weakly, she fought to restart her train of thought as a sniffle reached her ears.

_Gotta be strong,_ she told herself. _Freddie needs me right now. Everything else can wait._

"Hey, Freddie," she said quietly. "I told you. My dream was to be an Officer _so I could help people_. That hasn't changed. And I promised I'd get you out of here. You said you believed that. Do you still believe that? Do you still believe me?" The kit was silent so she continued, her voice a little stronger. "My whole life people told me I couldn't do things, that I wouldn't be able to. My whole life I've done things that everyone else thought were impossible, but I knew I could do them." She paused for a moment, giving him a chance to say something. "I. Am going. To get. You. Out. Of here," she said as firmly and resolutely as she could. "Do you _believe_ me, Freddie?"

There was another sniff. "Y- Yeah," he said shakily. "I- I guess I do."

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"WHAT DO YOU F-" Mason cut himself off. Yelling at his officers wasn't going to help. Wrestling his emotions back into order, he lifted one clenched hoof from the desk. Grinding his teeth, he brought it back down carefully, very deliberately placing it on the desk as gently as he could. Satisfied when the wood didn't groan, he huffed - a frustrated mix of a sigh and snort.

"I don't _care_ ," he said as calmly and deliberately as he could. "You can't see plates clearly on the cams anyway. We have a **description** " - damn, a growl was starting to slip in - " and we have two cameras with a view of the tunnel entrance. **FIND THEM**."

He didn't move as the officers in front of him saluted and scurried out of the Operations room, didn't react as the door clicked shut. For a long minute there was only the creaking of wood. Abruptly a crack shot through the air and he twisted, booting half of the broken desk into the concrete wall so hard it shattered into unusable shards and splinters. "FUCK!" he yelled.

A quadruple assault on his officers, at least one of which was attempted murder and one which was looking more and more like successful murder. It was unthinkable. Officers got into trouble every day, of course, but a calculated attack like this was rare. For it to target more than one officer or patrol pair was all but unheard-of.

There was a frantic knock on the door. "Chief!" someone yelled. "We've got Hopps!"

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In the end it took more horribly uncomfortable squirming than she would ever have expected, but Freddie eventually managed to get past her. She'd managed to pull him out of the warped seat, rolling to place him practically under the driver's seat with her still mostly in the rear footwell. As far as she could make out she'd protected him from just about everything, though the tight confines had left her left forearm protruding up past her right shoulder. That positioning must have been what allowed her wrist to be broken, though she was grateful that at some point she'd flopped away from him. Trying to move like that right now would have been unbearable.

To reach the earpiece - which had been knocked off and was the source of the speckled light - Freddie had had to work his way out of the gap she'd shoved him into. Unfortunately that meant getting past her. And her arm. She'd gritted her teeth and focused on not screaming, half wishing she'd pass out again. At last though, he'd managed to get it clipped back into place, though she'd asked him to turn off the light.

"Hello?" she asked into the darkness. "Guys, can you hear me?"

_Stupid question_ , she realised. She was still wearing the throat mic after all. They'd have been able to hear everything that she said earlier and so they must know she was there and mostly intact.

Silence.

"Guys?"

Nothing.

_Crap crap crap crap crap! Has something happened to them? What if-_ Her rambling thoughts were cut off as Freddie sniffed.

She groaned again, more from general discomfort than anything else and mustered the strength to move an ear. She felt it come into contact with something warm and let it drape against what felt vaguely like a shoulder, or possibly elbow? "Freddie, I'd give you a hug," she managed to croak, "but I can't move that much right now." She took a shaky breath. "I know that's just my ear, but can you pretend it's me giving you a hug? We're gonna be okay, I promise."

There was another sniffle, then something was holding onto her ear, clutching at it. She felt a pang of sympathy for the despondent kit as he held on to her, held on to the one lifeline he had out of this nightmare.

She gave him a moment, then gently spoke. "Freddie, I need you to do something for me. Can you do that?" There was a faint back-and-forth motion along her ear - was he nodding? Deciding that was all the acknowledgement she was going to get, she continued. "Can you check my radio for me? I can't see it but maybe it just got turned off." Quiet for a moment, then there was a sniff and that back-and-forth motion again.

He released her ear reluctantly and she heard him moving around in the dark. A small part of her mind was freaking out about that - trapped in the dark, injured, with a fox stalking her - but she was woozy enough that she didn't even bother reprimanding herself; it could wait. He was careful, but she still winced as he manouvered in the tight confines of what was left of the rear compartment.

"I- It looks okay", he said after a moment. "There's a green light on it. Does that mean it's on?"

She closed her eyes, trying to think through the throbbing. "Yeah..."

"Maybe it's just turned down?" Freddie offered? "There's a dial that says 'two'."

She frowned at that, cursing her sluggish thoughts. _Dial, dial..._ Her eyes widened and she coughed, causing her to clench them tightly shut again as she groaned, the cough having jostled her arm.

"That's like -" she cut herself off with a deep breath, fighting the nausea that last burst of pain had brought with it. "Kind of a mode, for the radio," she explained. "Can you set it to number three for me?"

"Okay." Freddie's voice was a little more hopeful now, seeing that even injured, she'd been able to make progress. She gritted her teeth as he moved again and there was a faint click, then two more. "Got it," he piped, before carefully moving back off her.

"Thanks," she said weakly. "This is Hopps, anyone out there?"

Nothing for a moment, then an utterly incredulous voice stabbed into her ear, causing her to wince at its volume. "Hopps? You're okay?"

"More or less," she managed. Freddie practically squealed in delight, clearly delighted that the adjustment had worked. Coughing again brought out a groan of pain. "Freddie's okay, I'm in one piece, but feeling pretty rough." The awful taste of the dust was still thick in the air and she felt dehydrated, the stuff lining her throat and making her mouth sticky. "I'm guessing there's some concrete on the roof," she continued. "How does getting us out of here look now?"

There was a pregnant pause. "Hello?" she asked, mildly annoyed that she couldn't put a name to the voice. She knew him damnit! _Oh, yeah, the bump on the head; the concussion, probably._

"Ah, good news and bad news, Hopps," the radio crackled after a moment.

"Ughmp," she complained. "Let's have it."

"Er, okay, the bad news is that we've got a definite fuel leak after all that and we were evacuating."

"What‽"

"Yeah," the voice was sheepish. Or was it scared? Uncertain? "The Furcedes got rammed and it sprung a leak. No question it's petrol either. Ah, we thought you were dead and had to get clear."

She groaned. _Perfect._

"Good news," the voice continued hurriedly, "is that since we know you're alive now we can probably get you out. The shunt moved the Furcedes off you so we just need to move the concrete or cut through the side."

"What about the leak?" she managed to ask. She couldn't smell anything but given her state, she wasn't all that surprised.

"Errr, yeah. Like I said, bad news." There was another pause. "Look, we'll figure something out, just be careful not to do anything that might let out a spark, okay?"

"Sure," she sniffed. "We'll be waiting for you guys." She said it more for Freddie than anything else, needing him to believe things were going to work out. She felt horrible for it, dirty and selfish. The news about the petrol leak had caused all the memories of her discussions with the rescue crews earlier to resurface in vivid detail. If Freddie were hopeful, she could use that to keep her fear of their seemingly inevitable fate at bay.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I understand."

"Good. Let's get this ball rolling then."

"Will do, sir." There was a click as the captain of precinct twelve hung up.

Mason nodded grimly. That was the last one. All of his captains had now been informed of the attacks on the ZPD's officers and they had begun to respond. Random searches of vehicles matching the description of the car that had raced into the tunnel. Police presence at transport hubs strengthened, awaiting descriptions of their mammals of interest and placed on heightened alert in the meantime. Unmarked, fully armed SWAT patrols to deploy around the city. Whoever had attacked his family wouldn't be making that mistake again.

He sighed as the weight of it all settled onto him. He was strong, yes, but it was still a burden. He stood and left the secure room in the basement; it had been nearer than his office and had a phone he could use. Stepping out into a bustling hallway, he followed it to the Incident room. Pride swelled in his chest at the teeming room, the pace of work not slowing in the slightest as he entered. The entire team had scrambled into action in less than ten minutes, calling in mammals who'd been off-shift, coordinating all three emergency services, pulling information from anyone and anywhere they could, and generally trying to make sense of this mess.

He observed the teams for a minute, careful not to interrupt or get in the way, getting a feel for the rhythms of the room. Captain Jess 'the Gorgon' Gordon, his 2IC - second in command - the absolute mistress of this domain, was audible across the room. Despite the rustle of papers, the ringing of phones, the tapping of claws on the floor and keyboards, despite the half-dozen other conversations and questions, the scarred jaguar effortlessly cut through it all as she coordinated teams and fielded questions.

Mason made his way across to her and stood patiently, waiting for her to find a moment to squeeze him into. She turned abruptly, light glinting off the disconcerting silvery-white surface of her left eye.

"Not good but it could be worse," she said, speaking quickly but clearly. "First indications are a gang fight; something valuable being shipped, dodgy payment, and an attempt at recovering the merchandise."

Bogo raised an eyebrow at that. "The mess in the tunnel?"

"Right." She turned away from him, calling back across the room in response to a shouted question - something about an informant. "Still working on what exactly it was, but it's looking less like a deliberate hit on Officers."

"Just got in the way?" Mason deadpanned.

She shrugged, completely unfazed. "Don't know yet." Another brief interruption, then she turned back to him with real concern in her eye. "Fire are working on getting to Hopps, but there's a lot of fuel in the tunnel now."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. _No. Please, no._

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The world had contracted around her as the minutes crept by. Throbbing pain, parched throat, nausea; it was getting harder to think, her concentration slipping more and more often. She tried to offer some comfort to the kit trapped in there, in their own little universe, with her. It helped - she thought. She gasped weakly as another spike of pain lanced up her arm.

She was next aware of faint sobbing. It took her a moment to realise who and what it was. "Freddie," she said softly. "Don't. Don't cry, please."

"But you're hurt," he all but wailed. "You tried to help me and you only got hurt." He sniffed. "Just like Matt."

It was difficult to focus, but she thought there was as much pain as sorrow in his voice. She shook her head gently, wincing. "I don't care," she whispered. "I knew what could happen when I _volunteered_ to tr- to get you out."

He didn't respond so she mustered the strength to drape her ear over his shoulder again. There was a faint sob and after a moment a strange sequence of motions which she ultimately interpreted as him hugging her ear to his chest and burying his face in the soft fur on the back. The skin beneath grew damp and she knew she had to do something. She frowned, what the kit had just said fully registering for the first time.

"Hey, Freddie," she said softly. "Who's Matt?"

He started sobbing harder.

_Oh, sweet_ cheese _and_ crackers _! Nice one, Judy._ She flailed desperately for something else to talk about. But what could she possibly say to a little fox to haul him out of the spiral of negativity?

There was a strange noise outside. Judy blinked, uncertain if it had been there a moment ago. Freddie didn't seem to be crying, which was probably a good thing. She almost started to ask what was going on, but he wouldn't know and the battery in her radio had died a while ago. There was something... She was supposed to be thinking of...? _Stupid concussion._ After a moment she remembered.

"Hey, Freddie," she croaked. The noise outside was getting louder; some kind of roaring. _I hope we suffocate first,_ she thought desperately. Her eyes squeezed shut and she bit down on her own lips, keeping her mouth sealed. A tear seeped out and down her cheek. She fought to compose herself.

"I never told you," she managed at last. There was a faint tremor in her voice but she was determined. And she was Judy Hopps. When she got determined, the world moved. "My best friend is a fox." There was no reply, but she felt him stiffen slightly against her ear. "It's true," she continued as the noise outside continued to get louder. "I met him on my first day as a cop. He was annoying and sarcastic to start off, and he was wearing the most ridiculous shirt I'd ever seen." She chuckled weakly, ignoring the pain. "Wherever he bought it from, that shop needs to be closed. Maybe I should make that my next case? Arresting the mammal that sold shirts ugly enough to hurt... Can a shirt be counted as a weapon?" She was rambling and didn't care. Anything to distract them from what was coming.

"But underneath all that, behind the sarcasm and the bad jokes is one of the most amazing mammals I've ever heard of. He's a better friend than I really deserve, you know? He forgave me after I made a huge mistake and hurt him badly. He stuck with me when he really didn't have to - shouldn't have, really. And he helped me when I got hurt. He was one of the only mammals to believe in me, you know? Before I proved that a bunny really could be a cop, he believed."

The roaring outside grew to a crescendo.

"I'm sorry, Freddie," she whispered into the darkness, another tear sliding down her cheek.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Light. And pain. Noise. More choking dust. Coughing weakly. More pain.

Sounds. Her name?

Movement. A vicious dagger stabbing through her wrist into her mind.

White. More noise. A rumbling?

Cold, spreading from her shoulder; soothing the fire in her arm.

Darkness.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Chief! They got her!" There was a moment of dead silence, the Incident room falling completely still at the shout. "She's a little worse for wear and unconscious but they got her in the ambulance and it doesn't look like anything too bad."

There were some cheers; Officers gladly celebrating the rescue of one of their own. Then the room exploded into motion once again, every mammal present determined to get to the bottom of this mess. Mason glanced at Jess. She gave him a tiny, all but imperceptible nod. He turned and headed back down the hall to the secure room. Closing the door gently he turned his back to it and leant back. His head tipped back, eyes closing.

A long ragged sigh escaped him. It wasn't just that one of his officers - a member of his family - was going to make it. After everything he'd put her through, it would have been utterly unbearable to lose Hopps - to lose Judy - like that. He swallowed thickly, eyes dampening beneath their lids.

Gradually the noise outside filtered back into his awareness. Taking a few deep breaths, he emerged from the room with his usual scowl and gruff demeanour firmly in place. Arriving back in the Incident room, he called out to Jess. "I'll need -"

"Press release'll be available in twenty minutes," she called back. "Just sanitising some of the details."

He nodded, exaggerating the motion to make it more visible across the room. "I'll be upstairs. Will you be available in half an hour?"

The jaguar shot a disapproving look his way. "You know I don't like the press."

"This is your case," he argued.

She glanced around the still heaving room. "Fine," she conceded grumpily. "Best make it forty minutes though."

He retreated wearily; there were phone calls to make and even with Jess's extension, less time than he'd like. From unfortunate experience, he knew that both Hopps's and Fangmeyer's mothers would be difficult to deal with. Not that he'd ever admit it to anyone else, but he wasn't sure which he was dreading more: the cold anger of the tigress or the fear and concern that the bunny would ramp up to eleven.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ladies and gentlemammals. There was a traffic incident in the Tundra Town-Rainforest District tunnel this morning which escalated into a series of assaults on ZPD officers."

The crowd rumbled at that but knew better than to interrupt.

"Approximately three hours ago a tanker appears to have lost control inside the tunnel and swerved across into the oncoming traffic lanes. This led to a dozen other vehicles colliding with it and each other. All three emergency services were on-site in less than eight minutes. The Ambulance Service reports that there were three immediate fatalities in the crash, including the driver of the tanker, and five mammals currently in critical condition at Baobab and Snowflake hospitals.

"The Fire and Rescue Service were able to recover all of the trapped mammals save for one kit in the back of a badly damaged vehicle. Officer Judy Hopps volunteered to help and I am pleased to be able to report that she was successful, in the process saving his life."

There were a few eye rolls at that. Surely that was either self-evident or an exaggeration.

"While Officer Hopps was engaged with that task, her partner, Officer Nadine Fangmeyer, was attacked at the Rainforest District entrance to the tunnel. She was able to subdue one of her assailants but was injured by the other before backup could arrive. Both of those mammals are now in custody and Officer Fangmeyer is being treated at Baobab hospital.

"At nearly the same time, Officers Cohen and Fangley from Precinct Eight were attacked at the other end of the tunnel. They were able to contain the situation and arrest one of their attackers with only minor injuries, neither requiring hospitalisation.

"In the chaos of the attacks at the entrances, a black SUV and beige car were able to break through the police cordon at the Rainforest District entrance. The SUV rammed one of the vehicles in the tunnel, injuring Officer Hopps and causing a fuel leak. Thanks to the remarkable ingenuity and determination of the Fire and Rescue Service mammals on the scene, this very dangerous environment was made safe through the use of a commandeered snow blower and both Officer Hopps and the kit were recovered alive."

A few of the gathering shouted questions. They were dismissed with a snort.

"This is an ongoing investigation and I will _not_ be disclosing further information until it is concluded. Captain Gordon."

The buffalo stepped away from the podium with a gesture and the reporters buzzed excitedly. "The Gorgon" was infamously disinclined to cooperate with the press. A few of the younger ones gasped as she stepped up into the spotlight, disconcerted by the milky orb of her blinded eye. The frigid, gunmetal grey-flecked blue of her remaining eye promising there would be no messing around in _this_ press conference. Standing tall at the podium with feline poise accentuated by long years of service, tail completely still - a display of self-control and discipline almost impossible for a cat that wasn't asleep - she glared around, demanding silence without needing to say a word.

"Thank you, Chief Bogo," she said crisply once the room was utterly quiet. "As has been said, this is an ongoing investigation and as such, you shall _not_ be receiving additional information after these statements. That also means I expect you to keep your noses out of this until we choose to enlighten you." The temperature of her voice dropped as sharply as desert air cooling in the evening. "The last thing we need is a compromised investigation thanks to a bunch of amateur ' _investigative reporters_ ' contaminating evidence or scenes and prejudicing witnesses." She glared around the room again, making sure to meet the eyes of every mammal present. Reporter, camera crew, news van driver; it didn't matter who they were.

"Now," she said sharply, her voice back to a cold, yet survivable level. "I have photographs and descriptions of a number of vehicles and mammals of interest to this investigation, as well as several suspects in the assaults on our Officers." The projector clicked on as she continued. "Please circulate these as widely as possible, along with the Precinct One direct line and the Incident Response hotline number being displayed now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you guys thought! Like I said, I'm not completely happy with some of this - it feels like the first half has a lot of "she said...", "she did..." but I'm can't think of how to significantly improve that. Which is annoying. I'll probably come back to it in six months' time and completely redo it after slapping myself for writing like that in the first place.
> 
> I should probably point out the the transition from the hospital memories back to the crash is supposed to be disconcerting and jarring. In my own, thankfully limited, experience of being knocked out, it really is very disorientating. Oh, and if anybody thinks Judy's reaction to her nightmare was over the top or OOC, remember, she's only just got the antidote to a pretty potent mind-affecting drug. Who honestly thinks she's entirely recovered just a few hours later?
> 
> And what do you all think of "The Gorgon"? She was a pretty much last-minute addition to the chapter, but personally I think it was a bit of a brainwave since it'll make the next section work sooooooo much better. I mean, what I had before would have been fine - it just would have required a bit of suspension of disbelief about schedules :P


	12. Chapter 10: The Sacri-fox

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! 1000+ views! Thanks guys, that means a lot. Please keep commenting though - it really is very encouraging to hear your feedback.
> 
> Nick got the news... How about a drinking game to help forget about it? No booze at the academy? Damn. Well how about some poker instead?

Nick stared in horror at the scene before him. _This can't be happening. This is wrong. No. Don't believe it. This is some kind of nightmare._ He rubbed his eyes furiously as if that might change what he were seeing. _Nope. Still a King and a Queen._

Charlotte's grin was entirely too predatory for a zebra. "Gotcha, foxy," she taunted.

Nick sighed and let his head drop into his paws. He hadn't messed up a hand of poker so badly in years. And this time it wasn't just going to cost him money - probably.

"Never have I ever," the grinning zebra began. She paused, sucking on her lower lip and squinting at him. "Been caught in bed with someone by their parents."

Nick froze for the briefest of instants. "You mean like, _sleeping together_ 'in bed' right? Because damn, that _would_ be embarrassing."

"Err, yeah?" Charlotte didn't seem to have picked up on his reaction, thankfully. "I mean, like, what else..."

"I think," Sam interrupted slowly, her expression calculating as she stared at the fox. "That we should take it literally."

He fought not to react. _Nothing to see here. Completely calm and collected fox. There is no story here._

Charlotte was looking at him now as well, a smirk growing on her muzzle. "Really, Sam?" she asked innocently.

"Sam," Nick warned as the lynx opened her mouth. "I've still got something on you, remember?"

She raised her chin, looking down her nose at him, and tilted her head to one side, her expression evaluating. After a moment she spoke. "Yes. You do." He felt a faint hope begin to bud in his chest. "But it'll be worth it."

His ears plastered back at that, the instinctive response too strong to suppress. _Awww, shit!_ At least he managed to stop himself slouching or curling into himself in the chair. Mostly.

"Oh, we have _so_ got you!" Sam gloated.

He shot her an angry look and decided to go down fighting. And besides, maybe her secret would embarrass her enough to cause a distraction? Maybe they'd all be laughing so much about that that he might get off? Of course he'd lose any and all ammunition to defend himself with in the future, but it might be worth it. "So, Sam's crush-"

"Nope!"

He turned to Gunther in outrage. "Guns! What the hell happened to 'bros before-'"

"AHEM!" Charlotte coughed loudly while Sam glared at him.

"I was gonna say 'does'!" Nick protested. "Seriously!"

"Uh-huh. Sure." The zebra was not convinced. Or impressed.

Gunther snorted. "Given the story he's about to share, that _might_ even be true."

Nick glared at the bear, getting genuinely annoyed.

"If a bit hypocritical," Sam suggested calmly.

He actually let out a small growl at that.

"Shouldn't it be vixens for him, anyway?" Charlotte offered.

"Oh, yeah," Nick shot back instinctively, "'cos that rhymes."

"So you're a poet now?" Gunther asked.

Sam grinned evilly. "You should do weddings. Maybe one in particular?"

Nick hung his head, biting his tongue as he took a deep breath. Letting it come out through his nose in a long, sighing snort, he resigned himself to his fate. _Goodbye, dignity._ His head snapped back up, ears perked forward, hustler's grin firmly in place. "Why don't we finish the hand?" His voice matched his appearance: cool, collected, and chock-full of 'you really want what I'm selling'. "I've already conceded but how about you two? You both folded; that still counts as losing the hand." Turning to Sam, he offered as politely as he could, "To the left of dealer, ma'am."

She glared at him for a moment then gave him the finger. His smirk only grew as she reached down to take a drink of her squash.

"Err, should I be in here with you lot?" Charlotte asked.

Nick turned his smirk on her and pretended to check her out, sitting up and craning his neck forward a bit to add to the act.

"Hey!" she squeaked.

He sat back with a grin. "Don't worry, Stripes. You're not really my type." He turned to Sam, not dialling his expression back one bit, and gestured towards the zebra as if offering her to the lynx. She reluctantly began to grin back then turned towards the rather flustered Charlotte and waggled her eyebrows with a playful leer.

There was a round of chuckles at her expression before they all turned to the bear on the other side of the table.

"Nope," was all he said, more or less completely deadpan.

Nick raised an eyebrow, not really that surprised, and turned back to Sam. "Ladies first," he offered.

"Ohh no. You're not getting out of it that easily, Wilde." She crossed her arms. "You tried to bluff your way through and lost a heck of a lot more than I did by cutting my losses early."

He sighed. _Looks like this is it._ Silence engulfed the group for a full minute. He couldn't do this. It wasn't even that it would embarrass him, but he didn't want it to reflect badly on-

"Oh come on," Charlotte snapped. She wasn't the most patient of mammals and this was far from the first time that trait had showed itself.

Nick swallowed, trying to think of the best way of putting this.

"Someone we know?" the zebra prodded.

His ear flicked slightly. _Damn it!_

"Ooooooh," Charlotte crowed delightedly. "Someone here? At the academy?"

He shook his head, able to choke out a weak chuckle at the absurdity of that suggestion.

"Come on, Charlotte," Sam scolded. "Took him long enough after getting here to make friends with _us_. No way was he hooked up with someone here before that. We'd have noticed." She shrugged. "From them if not from him."

"Hmm, maybe," the zebra conceded reluctantly. "Anyway, someone we know but not somebody here... Hmm..." She squinted at him, as if the answer was tattooed somewhere under his fur.

 _Maybe if I just stay quiet they'll guess their way through this and I won't have to embarrass_ myself _?_

"Someone... _famous_?" Sam drawled.

He closed his eyes, not able to look at her. _Still okay. Maybe this won't be so bad?_

Charlotte gasped, hooves going to her mouth.

_Or maybe they're going to guess at crazier and crazier things until the universe ends from second-hand embarrassment?_

"Who would he know that's famous?" Gunther rumbled.

 _Well shit._ He could _feel_ them looking around at each other.

"From the stories he's told it could be anyone," Charlotte pointed out. "I mean from the sounds of it he knows just about everyone worth knowing in the city." Nick held his breath. "And plenty probably not worth knowing," she added after a moment. "Remember that story about the male platypus model?"

There were snorts of laughter at that and Nick felt himself relax slightly. _See? Not so bad._

"Nah," Sam said, still tamping down her laughter. "Someone _we_ know. That's what he reacted to. _We_ know them. Now I don't know about you two, but I'm not that into fashion." A beat. "Or platypuses."

Nick opened his eyes in time to see Gunther giving Sam the finger. _See, it's working. They're distracting themselves. Now you just need to figure out how to get out of here without them noticing!_ He shivered, suddenly knowing Sam's eyes were on him. _Err. Might be worth coming up with a plan B._

"A slightly smaller girl, Nick?" Her voice was completely innocent. Too innocent.

_Shit shit shit shit shit! Plan B! Need plan B! Now!_

"A slightly different fur colour, too?"

 _Yep. I'm dead. The whole universe is about to join me, too._ He could see the curious gazes of Gunther and Charlotte focused unwaveringly on Sam. _Er, okay, plan B: she guesses wrong and we roll with it?_

"Longer ears?"

A lead weight had most definitely taken up residence in his stomach. _Plan C:_ tell them _before they guess something way worse than what happened._

Charlotte gasped. "No way!"

"Alright, fine!" he squawked. "I'll talk! Just stop! Ah!"

"Are you serious?" Gunther asked Sam, genuine surprise clear in his tone. He turned to Nick before she could say anything and looked him up and down. "Did I hear that right? You. Got caught. In bed. With. _Hopps_ ‽"

"When you put it like that-" he tried to respond.

"By _her parents_?"

"Look, I-"

"The _hell_ Wilde?"

"Shut up!" Charlotte whined. "I wanna hear this!"

Nick took a breath, ready to confess.

"But come on!" Gunther protested. "She's a rabbit, for crying out loud."

Nick's ears wilted slightly. Gunther clearly had no problem with him knowing or being friends with Judy - heck, his own friendship with Nick showed the bear wasn't averse to the idea of socialising with mammals of different species. Sometimes being able to read between the lines hurt though. This was why opening up to other mammals was something he'd refused to do for so long.

"Hey, Guns," Sam piped up. The bear glanced at her. "Shut up." He did a double-take, head snapping back around in shock. "Let him tell the story for crying out loud. Then you might be less confused."

The room fell silent then and Nick realised he was up. "Okay, fine," he sighed. "One condition: don't - and I really do mean this - _don't_ spread this around, please. And especially don't tell Judy. That's one bunny that you really don't want to be ticked off at you, and I kind of like living."

Sam and Charlotte nodded. He couldn't quite bring himself to glance over at Gunther.

"So this was just after the whole night howler mess," he explained flatly. "Judy and the others had just got the antidote-"

"Quick work," Charlotte interrupted with a grin.

He closed his eyes and shook his head, deciding to ignore the interruption and get this over with. "- and we ended up staying up pretty late, just talking about everything. She needed a hug - and have you ever seen a bunny in a wolf-sized hospital bed? So I kind of had to climb onto the bed to sit with her." _Careful of your phrasing! Don't wanna leave any room for misinterpretation._ "Anyway, we both ended up just falling asleep like that. _Nothing else happened._ "

"Oh." Charlotte sounded disappointed.

"Her parents came in the next morning and found us like that. That's all."

Gunther heaved a relieved sigh. "Heh. You had me worried for a minute there, Nick." He slapped the fox on the back, the gesture normal and playful. It still hurt.

"Heh," he offered weakly in return. "Comfort break, I'll be back in a bit."

The fox stood and strolled casually out of the room, a lynx's eyes on him. Despite the mask, she could see him: ears slightly back, tail a little lower and limper than usual, a hint of slouch in his posture.

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Nick looked up sharply at the sound of paws in the grass. He grunted. "Oh, hey, Sam." Levering himself to his feet he dusted off his trousers. "I bumped into Tom and he asked for a paw with-". He cut himself off as the lynx reached him then kept going, turning to lean against the wall he'd been sat against.

"Uh-huh. He needed a paw with something. Here, behind the dorms where nobody ever has reason to go." It was a statement that could be interpreted in many ways but Nick couldn't hear the humour that his friend's voice would hold if she'd intended it as a simple innuendo. Instead there was something... He couldn't really name it - it was just something friendly.

Sam surprised him then by sliding down the wall to sit calmly in the long grass. She didn't look at him, didn't say anything else. Realising he'd been imitating a statue for several seconds he shook his head quickly then cocked it, puzzled by her behaviour.

"Err... Sam?" he asked a moment later when she still hadn't moved or explained.

She looked at him then, a faint, sad smile on her face. "You really don't get it, do you?"

Nick just blinked at her, gesturing aimlessly with one paw, completely lost.

Sam sighed gently, ears laying back against her head and tail wrapping around her legs as she hugged them to her chest. "You don't have to go anywhere," she explained, the odd note in her voice a little stronger. "I'm not here to drag you back in there or anything." She paused, not looking at him. "Just thought I could keep you company, that's all."

"Oh," he replied, uncertain. "I guess this is one of those 'friends' things then?" Though he'd never admit it, he was a little embarrassed to have to ask. Back in the city, back before his life had been turned inside out, he'd known everyone and just about every _thing_ too. Who to go to for any item or favour; who to avoid at all costs; what would get you into trouble; where to hang around and where to avoid being caught after dark. Cheap places to stay - bed and breakfasts that wouldn't rip you off but wouldn't leave you with more lice than fur. Not knowing something, being uncertain, was dangerous - had been dangerous. Now it wasn't, but it was still uncomfortable - years upon years of a mindset could never be changed in a few weeks. _That's right. Deeply uncomfortable. Not embarrassed._

Sam nodded gently, continuing to stare out over the somewhat overgrown field that the dormitory blocks backed onto. "That's right. Sometimes it helps, just to have some company."

Nick raised an eyebrow at that. "Helps? What makes you think I need help?" _Damn, I'm slipping! That wasn't nearly as irked as it should have been. Did it actually come out as curious?_

Sam finally looked back at him, blinking slowly, her ears still folded back. Every aspect of her posture advertising - not submission, exactly, but emphasising that she wasn't a threat. "Please don't take this the wrong way," she began before pausing to lick her lips. "And please let me finish?"

Nick nodded, that uncomfortable feeling not weakening at all.

"While you're still hellishly difficult to read, I've gotten to know you well enough to spot when something's wrong," she explained. "When you left - it wasn't obvious, don't worry - I could tell you were a little... off." She looked up at him, pre-empting the question that must have been written on his face. "Ears and tail." She shrugged. "Like I said, not obvious. I only noticed it because I've been making an effort to get to know you better."

He huffed, irritated with himself as much as her. _Damn it, Carrots! I knew this wouldn't end well._

"Hey," Sam chided gently. "I know you don't like opening up. That much was obvious pretty much from day one, you know? And I'm not prying or trying to get into your head or anything. It's..." She paused, offering him a wry smile. "Another one of those 'friends' things." She looked down, apparently intrigued by some of the grass. "Friends usually try to help each other when one of them's uncomfortable or upset about something. Getting to know you a bit better has never and will never be about prying. I just noticed that you were at least uncomfortable about something and wanted to help if I could."

It was Nick's turn to sigh. He slid down the wall next to her, thinking about what she- what _his friend_ had just said. "Thanks," he said slowly after a minute. "I think." Sam had looked at him as soon as he started speaking and offered him an encouraging smile and a nod. She didn't say anything though and he wondered if he was supposed to continue. "I guess I'm just not used to people getting that close," he offered. "In the past if anyone was trying to get close enough to read me like that then it would've been to hurt me. It's... gonna take a while, I think, before I get used to this."

Sam nudged his shoulder with her own. "Friends help each other out; they don't try to hurt each other." Nick nodded slowly and exhaled heavily. Sam hid a smile as she saw him relax - nothing obvious, just a slight shift in body language, but telling if you knew what to look for,

They sat in silence for a while, the lynx not wanting to pry and the fox trying to deal with everything swirling through his mind. Eventually Sam spoke, gazing out over the field as the sun began to noticeably speed its descent. "I'm not here to force you to talk, or to make you do anything at all," she reminded her companion. "But if you want to talk about what was bothering you..."

Nick slowly shook his head. "I think I need to figure it out for myself first."

Sam looked at him with a frown. Her expression eased at the sight of the fox. He was still clearly uncertain about something but the faintest hints of his usual smirk could just be seen at the very corners of his mouth. "Will you at least tell me about Hopps, then?"

He looked at her, head cocked to one side and a bemused expression on his face. "I told you all: nothing happened."

"Oh come on," she prodded. "Even if nothing happened, you got caught in bed together, by her parents, in the hospital. No _way_ is that the end of the story!"

"No," he snorted. "That's not the end of the story."

Sam huffed at that and nudged his shoulder again. "And? So? What? Come on!"

He nudged her back, feeling a small grin starting to work its way back onto his muzzle. "What happened to not prying?"

"Hey, asking questions is fair game," she protested. "Nobody's saying you _have to_ answer." Her voice became much more serious then. "And anyway, you just have to tell me when I've crossed a line and I'll stop straight away."

He looked at her, not entirely believing her. "Fine," he huffed. "Just because I know you'll keep bugging me until I say something."

"Hey!" Her voice was full of faux indignation as she nudged his shoulder again, a little harder.

He nudged back even harder, a playful grin now clearly visible. Sam held up a paw in surrender. "Alright, alright. I'll stop."

Nick sighed, strangely content. Teasing and banter were comfortable and familiar; physically joshing around less so, but not unheard of. "Okay, so..." He shifted slightly, trying to find a more comfortable position. "Mamma Hopps woke us both up when she walked in and yelled out Judy's name. I don't think her dad got past 'what' before fainting." Sam chuckled and he joined in, more grateful than he was willing to let on for the line of questioning. It _was_ a funny story, after all.

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_Well this is new._ Waking up curled around a rabbit was certainly not something he'd ever expected to find himself doing. Being woken up by someone else shouting at the rabbit he was sharing a bed with was also definitely not on that list. Nevertheless, here he was, sharing a wolf-sized bed with his friend and her parents had just walked into the room.

 _Play it cool,_ he thought to himself, keeping still as his eyes snapped open. He could just see Judy's mum standing by the door, one paw thrown over her mouth, ears a-quiver, and a very surprised expression on her face. _Yyyyyup. Definitely play it cool and let Carrots handle this._

He'd felt the ridiculously soft ball of fluff stiffen slightly at her mother's shout and as she started to shift, he became suddenly, violently aware of just how close they were. There was a thump from by the door but his attention was entirely on Judy. He wasn't just curled around her - she was laying partially on his chest, almost snuggling up to him. His tail had curled around more than it usually did too: instead of meeting his own muzzle it was covering most of Judy's lower half. Apparently neither of them had bothered with the thin, scratchy hospital blankets either. He could see Mrs Hopps bend down and to the side, muttering something about fainting. He caught the word 'again' a few times too.

His heart rate rocketed and his ears splayed back as he fought to keep his breathing steady and mask any other tells. Would Judy be okay with this? _She's the one who asked me to stay... Yeah, but did she expect to sleep with you, or were you supposed to get lost once she'd fallen asleep?_ He took a slightly deeper breath as he felt her lift her head off his chest, mustering the full strength of his will and everything he'd ever learned about self-control to fight back his rising panic. _You got this. Whatever happens, you can fast-talk your way out of here._ That reassurance was shakier than usual though. Yes, he'd been in tighter spots and talked himself out of them successfully, but this was Judy: just getting out of here alive wasn't the priority - though it'd still be nice, of course.

He blinked in surprise at a very odd feeling. Something soft - so probably Judy-related - was sliding across his chest. Was she stroking him? Given that she was moving, he figured pretending to be asleep wouldn't work for much longer anyway so he turned his head as far as he could. At the limit of his flexibility, he caught one of her ears slowly rising, rubbing his chest as it moved past. _I wonder what it's like to have ears that long?_ he mused idly, still mostly focused on keeping calm.

Her brilliant eyes - slightly sleep-dulled - met his then. She must have seen the panic he was trying so hard to hide because she offered him a soft, compassionate smile. Lifting her free paw and patting him gently on the shoulder, she whispered, "It's okay, Slick, You're not in trouble. I'll deal with my parents."

Nearly sighing out loud in relief, he was suddenly enormously grateful for red fur as she grabbed his tail and pulled it off herself, causing him to blush violently. _Errr. Okay. That happened. After we spent the night cuddled together._ On top of not panicking, he was now trying to process this latest development, _and_ , oh yes, trying to not watch his friend stretching. It was fine. Probably. This was probably normal for bunnies. Maybe. If she were a vixen of course, then the whole thing would be sending one _very_ clear message.

He was still blushing as Judy hopped out from the circle of fox and off the bed and went over to her mother. The two rabbits immediately went into a rapid whispered conversation. Double-checking where they were standing, he turned his head away before allowing himself to yawn expansively. Deciding he should probably get out of bed and face the music too, he stretched out, grateful that the bed was large enough to allow him the chance to loosen up without having to get up first. Standing up slowly, he smacked his lips lightly and took his first really deep breath of the day.

Immediately regretting it, he coughed as his nose was flooded with an unfamiliar scent. _Wow, do I smell like rabbit!_ Maybe it was just the room? He tipped his head forward, sniffing again. He managed to hold back the cough this time. _Nnooope. Definitely m-_ His train of thought derailed in a spectacular fireball then, as something that should have been glaringly obvious slammed into his conciousness.

"What am I _supposed_ to think, Judith?" came her mother's exasperated voice. She was either aggravated enough to abandon the whispering or she just wanted him to hear too. "We come in here and find you, a _rabbit_ , in the same bed as a _shirtless male_."

"Oh _come **on**_ , mum!" Judy exclaimed heatedly. "You _know_ I'm not one of those does that'll just grab anything nearby with a heartbeat to scratch an itch!"

Just when he though his blush was going down, too. How un-thoughtful of her.

"Oh, so you _do_ know him then?"

_Yep. Nowhere to hide and I don't think I'd make it to the door before one or both of them caught me._

Behind him Judy groaned in frustration. Maybe he should turn around to help instead?

" _Yes, mum._ I know him." Judy sniped. "Nick!" she called in a disturbingly over-sweet tone. "Why don't you come say hi to my mum?"

 _Maybe it's worth making a break for it?_ He took a deep breath and turned to face the rabbits. Judy had her arms crossed, one foot twitching. She was facing him with her ears up and turned his way. Behind her, her mother was looking extremely indignant - even rapidly blinking. Had Judy made some gesture to her mother as she turned around? Bracing himself for the trial to come, he pushed his embarrassment aside - surprisingly much easier to do than with his earlier panic - and slipped on his game face.

 _Showtime!_ Stopping next to Judy - who was still watching him - he offered a paw out to her mother. "Missus Hopps," he greeted neutrally, careful to keep the usual smug and sarcasm out of his voice.

She looked him up and down, her expression not quite that of a parent examining something their kit's pet had dragged into the house, before delicately taking his offered paw. "Nick, was it?" she asked coolly.

He nodded, concealing his hurt at how she'd examined him. "Yes, ma'am. Nick Wilde." Beside him, Judy's expression changed from angry to... Was that concern? _She hasn't even looked at her mum! What's she got to be worried about?_ Before she could say or do anything though, there was a knock at the door. Her expression flicked back to irritated as she called, "Come in!" with accompanying eye roll.

The beaver nurse who'd made the rounds last night came into the room, looking around carefully. Judging by her expression, a shirtless fox standing between two rabbits wasn't high on her list of expectations. _Welcome to the club,_ Nick thought sourly.

"Ah... Is everything okay, miss Hopps?" she asked, a little apprehensive.

Judy shrugged, still looking annoyed. "Yah. Everything's fine," she said shortly, the words clipped to a degree that broadcast clear annoyance.

"Um, okay." The nurse took a moment to collect herself. "Ah, police chief Bogo would like to speak to you."

Judy perked up at that but Nick couldn't tell whether that was due to simple curiosity or to the fact that it was her former boss that was visiting. "Okay, um, show him in?" she offered.

"I um, he's..."

Judy facepawed. "Right. Small and medium mammals section of the hospital." She looked up at the nurse. "I don't suppose anyone's got a change of clothes for me? No? Oh well, I guess I'm going to go talk to the _chief of police_ in a _hospital gown_." She huffed and turned to address her mother over her shoulder. Nick nearly did a double-take as, despite the motion of her head, her ears stayed resolutely still - one angled in his general direction and the other facing towards the nurse. _How the heck?_

"Mum, I know you'll be wanting to get back to the farm before someone throws a surprise warren party again," she said coolly. "But you at least need to stay until dad wakes up. We need to finish this conversation before you go, too. I don't want the Bunnyburrow rumour mill spinning up over your _assumptions_." Her tone was icy now and her mother seemed on the verge of sputtering incoherently - whether from anger or surprise he wasn't sure. _Of course, you should have figured that one day you'd need to know how to read a rabbit._

Judy moved her gaze back to him and smiled, warmth blossoming through the chill of the words she'd just spoken. "Nick, I hate to do this to you, but can you keep an eye on them?"

 _What‽_ It wasn't a derailment this time; more like a gearbox completely seizing after all the oil leaked out. While the engine was doing twelve thousand revs.

She extended a paw, placing it gently on his arm. "Please? You'd be doing me a huge favour if you made sure they didn't _sneak away_." She finished the sentence a little more loudly, clearly intending for everyone in the room to hear it.

"Uh, sure, Carrots."

Judy winced slightly at that. While most mammals probably wouldn't have noticed it, he'd been reading marks and had gotten to know her well enough that he saw it clearly. _Crap._ Then, as his mind started to get unstuck, what he'd just said registered. _Shit! What did I just agree to?_

She beamed at him, though he could see it was a little forced. "Great! Thanks, Nick. I'll be back as soon as I can." She patted his arm then trotted out of the room, followed by the nurse.

 _No, nooooo, NOOOOOOO! Why'd you ask me to do that, Carrots? What did I do? Caaaaarrooooooooooots!_ he wailed mentally, staring at the door.

A throat was pointedly cleared behind him. Taking a deep breath and plastering on as charming a smile as he could muster right then, he turned to face his foe.

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"No way!" Sam gasped. "She just left you there with her mum?"

Nick nodded glumly. "Yeah. I had no idea what I was going to do or how I was going to keep them from leaving if they did try something. I mean, physically restraining two scared or angry adult bunnies probably wasn't going to go well."

Sam snickered, clearly enjoying the mental image of a fox being beaten up by a pair of middle-aged rabbits. "So what happened next? I mean, presumably she dragged you over the coals a bit?"

"Yeah," he huffed. "She started off by asking about the nickname I'd used and-"

"Wait," Sam cut him off. "What nickname?"

With a sigh, Nick resigned himself to explaining that too. "I call Judy 'Carrots' most of the time."

The lynx raised an eyebrow. "You call a rabbit police officer 'Carrots'?" She blinked as he simply nodded. "Ooookay. I'm gonna need that story at some point too, you know? I'd have thought she'd take you in for _something_ if you did that - at least if her records are anything to go by." She shook her head then, annoyed at distracting herself. "Never mind. Erm. Yeah, so you call her 'Carrots', and then you do it in front of her mum in _that_ situation?"

"Yeah." He paused, finding his place in the memories. "She just said 'Carrots' like a question. I gave her a... let's go with slightly polished version of the real story. She didn't seem happy about that but I guess she figured that since Judy was okay with it, she'd let it pass. It got a little awkward then-" Sam snorted. "- because I couldn't really do anything except stand there, still shirtless, while Mrs Hopps spent a while trying to wake her husband up.

"Once he was back in action she sent him to get some drinks. I figured it'd be fine since he'd be back for his wife so I let him go." He grimaced then and shook his head. "I should have realised what she was doing of course, and it's _really_ obvious in hindsight."

"She wanted to talk to you without any interruptions?" Sam guessed.

"More like interrogate," he confirmed. "I'm still not sure how I missed it. I guess I still wasn't fully awake and a bit preoccupied with the whole situation. Anyway, 'when did you meet my daughter?' and 'what do you do for a living?' were covered in the nickname story so she opened with 'I've never met a fox who's into bunnies before'."

"Ouch! _Savage_ mum bun."

"Yeah," he chuckled. "I'm glad I was too surprised to make the obvious joke about being the only one left in the room with her. Don't think I'd have survived that."

Sam rolled her eyes at that. "And I thought _rabbits_ were supposed to be the ones that never turned off."

"Hey!" Nick protested. "That may or may not be true, but either way, the rest of us can make jokes whenever we want to." He paused, raising a paw. "Whenever we feel like it? At any time?" He huffed in annoyance, unable to think of a phrasing that couldn't be misinterpreted. "You know what I mean."

"No, I'm not sure I do," Sam deadpanned. "Do tell."

He gazed at her flatly, silently asking 'are you serious?' "Fine," he said after a moment of silence. "Making jokes about sex doesn't mean you want it right then."

Sam grinned. "See?" she asked sweetly. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Nick allowed his full smirk to emerge. "Jokes are one thing but look who's making innuendos now."

Sam jolted, taken aback, then shook her head and facepawed. "I should have known better than to tease you."

They shared a laugh, leaning back against the wall in companionable silence for a while.

Eventually Nick continued with his story. "It took a while for me to get any sort of sensible reply out; there was plenty of spluttering and half-finished sentences, that's for sure. I was eventually able to explain that I wasn't actually interested in Judy. _Or_ any other bunny," he added quickly, seeing Sam's grin. "She clearly didn't believe that and kept going with the questions until I realised that I'd have to try something a little different to get her to stop." He sighed, still not sure his decision back then had been the right call. "So I opened up a bit." The lynx went wide-eyed at that but he carried on before she could interrupt. "Not much, you know. Just a little bit because I figured if she started feeling a bit guilty or realised she was treading on some personal stuff then she might back off."

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"Hmm. So why _are_ you here in the hospital then?"

"Oh, I helped Judy with the missing mammals case." He shrugged, deliberately keeping his story as vague as he could - no sense in annoying Judy by revealing anything she wanted to keep to herself. "Didn't see her for a while after that, then she came and found me... a little over a month ago - the end of May, anyway."

"And why did she come to you? I remember she went haring off back to the city without any kind of explanation."

Nick nodded, not surprised that she didn't know all the details. "Yeah, she'd figured out that night howlers were a kind of flower and that someone must have been deliberately targeting predators." He shrugged, carefully presenting the impression that he was happy and a little surprised by what came next. "She came to me for help with that too, since we'd worked together so well during the missing mammals case."

"Really?" the rabbit before him asked, her tone still slightly sceptical. There might have been a hint of consideration or curiosity in there too - a good sign.

He nodded. "Together we cracked the case in two days with very little support from the rest of the ZPD," he explained. "They'd been investigating the first disappearance for a couple of weeks by that point and hadn't made any progress."

"Alright, so that led to Bellweather's arrest. How does that end with you in the hospital?"

He shrugged again, trying to play the next part down. "So, yeah, Judy and I worked together to trick her into confessing before all hell broke loose and Judy got exposed to the night howler serum. I got caught up in it all and had a few cuts and bruises, plus a couple of broken ribs." He looked at the rabbit before him carefully, watching for the slightest of tells. There was a hint of something there, but not enough to be sure so he decided to prod her along a bit. "I'm glad I was able to help her though."

Forget tells, surprise was clearly written on her face for anybody to see. "Really? You are? Even though you got hurt?"

 _And the bait has been taken! Hook, line and sinker. Score one: Nick Wilde._ Suppressing the victorious grin that wanted to emerge, he instead forced his face to fall. If he hadn't already been sitting, he'd have flopped down into one of the available chairs. Placing his elbows in his knees, he interlaced his fingers and leaned forwards, planting his chin on his paws.

"I had a... difficult kithood," he began slowly, carefully lacing his voice with melancholy. "All part and parcel of being a fox, really." He shrugged again, carefully allowing some real feeling through his mask. The best deceptions built on truths, after all, and it seemed to be working: Judy's mum seemed to buy the image of a fox struggling not to show his hurt without question. "Not many friends, and fewer as we grew up. I know plenty of mammals in the city from my various ventures. Lots of acquaintances, a few good, reliable business partners." He looked down, emphasising the 'beaten fox' look. "No real friends pretty much since I finished school." He heard the rabbit stifle a gasp and had to fight to keep his grin in check. _Are all country bunnies this easy? I should_ so _have moved out to hustle in the country ages ago!_

"Your daughter's the first friend I've made since I was a teenager," he explained softly. There was no audible reaction to that, but he felt pretty confident that that wasn't because she'd seen through him. He looked up again slowly, expression earnest. "She's the first mammal in my entire adult life to have seen me as something other than just some sneaking fox after her wallet, e-" He cut himself off sharply then. There was no need to share _that_. _What the hell? Was I really going to say 'even though that's exactly what I tried my best to do when we first met' to her mum?_ There'd been more truth to his story than he'd intended to include, but sometimes that was how it went. A hustle could grow and change as organically as the situation it was being used in, after all. Mentally shaking himself, he took a moment to regain control before re-focusing on the rabbit now standing in front him.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, compassionately, and Nick found himself genuinely stunned into silence. He hadn't expected that level of sympathy from her. She slowly opened her arms and his eyes widened at the motion, completely blind-sided. After a moment she stepped back, no irritation or anger at his rejection of her offer in her eyes. Just that same deep sympathy. "I'm sorry, Nick," she said again. "I didn't mean to drag up anything painful, and I apologise if that was a little too forward of me. We bunnies tend to be quite tactile and I guess you brought some motherly instincts out there." She sniffed lightly and sat back down in the chair she'd been using earlier.

Nick let out a slightly shaky breath. _Forget hustles changing to suit the situation, that all hit a little too close to home. What is it with these bunnies and being honest? Ah well, at least it seems to have worked._ "It's okay," he said carefully. "But if it's alright, I'd rather not talk about it any more."

Mrs Hopps nodded understandingly. "If you'd like a moment that's fine. I won't go anywhere."

He shook his head, not having to put much acting into his still-wobbly demeanour. "Don't worry. But yeah, that's why I'm happy to have been able to help Judy with all this, even though there were a few rough spots."

The rabbit shook her head. "No, enough of that. I've been questioning you for long enough, I think. Why don't you ask me a few questions?" she offered.

Nick pondered that for a moment. "I'm not sure if I really have anything to ask, to be honest."

She snorted delicately. "That I doubt. I assume you don't know many rabbits or much about our culture?" He nodded; it wasn't a particularly difficult truth to guess. "But you've known Judy for a while now. There must be _something_ she's said or done that you're curious about."

He hesitated, and of course she noticed, smiling encouragement. Mindful that it would help keep her from asking any more questions of her own for a while, he surrendering to the inevitable. "Um, well I guess there are a couple of things. It's just... I'm not sure how appropriate the questions are." Mrs Hopps' face fell at that and he winced as he realised what she must be thinking. "Ah, no, not er..." he exclaimed, patting the air with both paws. "Nothing about stereotypes or anything like that." The rabbit relaxed slightly and cautiously gestured for him to continue. "It's just that... I'm worried they might be sensitive subjects."

Mrs Hopps harrumphed and aimed a not-quite-glare at him. "Cute?" she asked coolly. Nick wilted slightly under her gaze and nodded bashfully. "That _is_ a bit of a sensitive subject," she said carefully, allowing some warmth back into her voice. "I'd prefer not to talk about it."

Nick chuckled weakly. "I'll be sure to ask Judy then. On my deathbed."

That managed to wring a small laugh from the stern-faced rabbit opposite him. "Anything else?"

He hesitated again, unsure if this was a good idea. _She didn't react that badly to 'cute' though. Yeah, but I didn't actually use the word. This is something that just happened to her._ Ultimately deciding it would at least keep her talking for a bit. "Back when Judy was about to leave," he started slowly, noting her stiffen slightly. "I didn't see her do anything or hear her say anything but you seemed to be getting more and more... angry, I think, with her. What was going on?"

She was about to answer - though from the expression on her face he wasn't sure whether it would just be another curt 'pass' - when the door swung open and Judy marched into the room, her father trailing sheepishly in her wake. "I'll happily answer that," she proclaimed. Her father closed the door and scurried over to his wife as Judy came to a stop next to Nick, placing a paw on his arm. "Hey," she said much more softly with a small smile. "Thanks for this." He nodded, not sure what else to do.

"Our culture is very sociable," she explained. Completely ignoring her parents by the look of things, her voice and demeanour were friendly as she spoke to him. "A big part of that is obviously conversation and for the most part, we've got good enough hearing that we catch just about anything nearby." He nodded in understanding, not wanting her to think he wasn't paying attention. "It takes a concerted effort for most bunnies to ignore someone," she continued in a more serious tone and Nick froze.

_Crap._

"Deliberately keeping our ears pointed away from someone is a clear physical sign that we're trying to ignore them, especially if we're otherwise moving around. Even if we're talking to someone in particular, most of the time you'll see rabbit ears moving around quite a lot, keeping track of just about everybody in the room."

Of course, that was when he noticed that her ears had been firmly raised and pointed entirely at him the whole time.

"So in this case, I was sending a message that I was trying to ignore my mum." She paused for a moment before continuing in an even more severe voice. "Angles are also important. Turning my ears entirely away from her said 'I don't give a rotten pea about what you have to say'. If my ears had been a little more relaxed, pointing more to the side but still away from her, it would have been more like 'please stop talking'. Still kind of at her but mostly to the side would have been 'this is boring, can we talk about something else please'." Her voice had started to warm back up again as she finished. "Now, I've got to have a bit of a chat with my parents. I'd like you to stay, but you don't have to."

He swallowed nervously. _What could possibly go wrong?_ "I'll stay," he replied softly, doing his best to hide his uncertainty.

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"And then she pretty much ripped into her parents. She wasn't yelling or anything but she was going on about how they'd never really supported her and how insulting it was that the first thing they did when they got into the room was make assumptions and accusations... It got pretty heated before she kind of ran out of steam."

"Ran out of steam?" Sam asked. "From what I've heard so far I didn't think it was possible for Hopps to run out of energy."

They'd been talking for a while now and the sun had just set - the horizon still glowing a warm orange. Nick shrugged, suddenly tired himself. "I guess it all kind of caught up to her."

"Hmm... So is everything okay there? Is she still talking to her family?"

He nodded slowly, suppressing a yawn. "Yeah, they all made up. She went back to Bunnyburrow for a bit on medical leave and everything got smoothed over before she came back to the city." He did yawn then. "Ugh, sorry, I guess the day's just hit me."

Sam nudged his shoulder with her own once more. "Don't worry. It's not every day you find out a friend's been hospitalised."

He winced as _that_ hit him as well. The reason he'd been distracted enough to lose that hand of poker that had led to all this. _Judy's in the hospital. Again._ He sighed heavily and pulled his legs up to his chest, dropping his head onto his knees.

Sam was quiet for a moment before slowly standing and placing a paw on his shoulder. "If you want to talk, just come find me, okay? I don't care about the time or anything." She squeezed gently, almost massaging his shoulder. "She'll be okay." Not receiving any response from the fox, she withdrew her paw and slowly walked away.

Lifting his head once she was gone, Nick's eyes were a little brighter than usual, almost glinting in the faint light. "Thanks... Sam," he whispered. Taking a few deep breaths, he hauled himself to his own feet - it wouldn't do to get locked out after all. Plastering on his hustler's mask, he took a moment to make sure nobody else would be able to see his shakiness before heading inside.

Climbing into bed a little later he didn't think he'd be able to fall asleep. His mind was churning; thoughts of Judy and their adventures whirling around without order. Closing his eyes with a soft exhale, he tried to calm his racing thoughts. Just as the storm was subsiding, the memory of Gunther's words popped into his head. He groaned quietly, wishing for a reprieve. Hours later - or at least he was pretty sure it must have been hours - his mind circled back to Judy's last hospitalisation.

Despite all the stress and trauma associated with those memories, he drew a strange comfort from them. Judy Hopps: unstoppable miniature officer of the law, shining beacon of just about everything good in mammality. She'd fought with her own parents for him. She'd defended him from the bias and scorn he'd known his whole life. True, it had been about her as well, but it had been utterly amazing watching and listening as his fiery little friend - his true _friend_ \- had stood in his corner and refused to back down.

Rolling a little and opening his eyes, he tapped the screen of his phone. The enchanting photo of Judy lit up the glass and he found himself smiling at it. It would be three weeks before he saw her again in person. Three weeks before he had a chance to really, truly, relax. His eyes slowly drifted closed as the glow of the screen faded and he found himself drifting away from conciousness on the tides of memory, his friend steadfastly there for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this didn't turn out quite like I'd planned, but I think it made more sense to allow it to develop more naturally. We're nearly done with the flashback/memory sequences now: there's only a couple of plot points left to cover (unless I've missed something? Please tell me if I raised some point in a previous chapter and have somehow forgotten it!). Next time on H&D (at least this is the plan): a big emotional scene, and some more of the light-hearted stuff in what should be the last of the catch-up segments.


	13. Chapter 11: Fox Amongst the Bunnies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Judy "ripped into her parents", did she? Wonder what that was like...

The storm was growing; the small, swirling ball of grey cloud swelled and seethed as its fury built. The wind ruffled his fur with a surprisingly gentle susurration as it rose, the storm nearly filling the room now. It whispered in a voice that echoed hauntingly throughout the small space; hazy phrases that were clear to hear but strangely hard to understand.

"How dare you." Like the first beam of sunlight to wash over the world as the sun rose, bringing vivid colour to a flat grey landscape, the soft words of the wind suddenly came into sharp focus.

It rose to a furious, howling gale and he was forced to close his eyes as his fur began to puff from the static charge building in the cloud. Now struggling to stay upright, he reached out blindly, searching for shelter. His paw came into contact with something gloriously soft and the wind abruptly died away. His fur settled at the storm faded and he opened his eyes to see the cloud condensing, forming a small grey column. His paw was partly buried in it, resting on something solid within the still-roiling mass.

"How. _Dare_. **You**."

The words fell like lead ingots; like the blows of a sledgehammer; like the footsteps of a titan. The column of cloud pulsed and throbbed with each one, wire-thin tendrils of lightning coursing through it as the cold anger of whatever god had manifested itself flooded the room like a torrent of icy water.

He twitched, wondering if it was safe to remove his paw - some of those arcs of lightning looked uncomfortably close. Something moved inside the cloud, somehow conveying the impression of a head turning. A deep purple light began to glow within the churning grey, rapidly separating into two distinct circles. His eyes snapped shut instinctively as the cloud puffed out sharply. Cautiously opening them a moment later, he should have been surprised to find himself holding the shoulder of a rabbit.

A strong, grey rabbit with astoundingly soft fur and brilliant purple eyes. She lifted her right arm across her chest, laying her tiny paw on top of his and squeezing gently, reassuringly. Suddenly inexplicably nervous, he tried to speak past the lump in his throat. What he might say was uncertain - what could a fox have to say to a storm? Turning away from him - though leaving her paw on his own - he remained frozen as she started to speak once again.

"You barge in here after we've _both_ been through events that any sane mammal would consider traumatic and what's the first thing you do? You don't ask if we're all right; you don't ask _why_ we might have needed to comfort each other; you don't stop to wonder about **anything**!"

She was speaking to two older bunnies, he realised. Somehow he'd not seen them before but there they stood, still aside from their twitching noses. Little else was clear about them - they appeared as little more than coloured blobs of fur.

"No," she breathed harshly. "The _very first_ thing that you do is start making _assumptions_ and _accusations_."

One of the two she was addressing began to speak, the voice faint and tremulous. "Judy-"

"No." The rabbit who's shoulder he was holding was trembling now. "You do _not_ interrupt. You _will_ let me say my piece."

The other bunny - voice deeper: male - tried to butt in. "Now, Jude, you can't talk to-" He stopped suddenly as his rabbit turned her gaze his way, eyes widening and taking a small step back.

"I was _turned savage_ ," she hissed. "If _this_ -" she squeezed his paw again and moved closer. "- is what I need to make it through the night without waking up _screaming_... Then this. Is what. I. _Am_. _Going_. To do.

"Nick is the best friend I've ever made," she continued more softly. "I've only known him for a few weeks but he's already saved my job; saved my life; believed in me more than any other mammal in my _entire_ **life**."

"Judy-" one of the bunnies tried to start talking again.

_Judy._ The name echoed in his mind as his friend, his fiery little _rabbit_ friend, shook her head sharply, ears twisted away from the two bunnies before her.

"No." It was flat, final; there was no room for debate. "You're my _parents_ ," she cried, emotion surging back into her voice. "He's been more supportive and more encouraging than you ever were. _Do you understand?_ " she gasped. "A friend, a mammal who was a complete stranger two months ago, has been more supportive and encouraging _than my own parents_ have ever been." Her voice was trembling as violently as her shoulder now.

Suddenly he could smell her: female rabbit dominated of course; traces of other mammals who'd brushed against her for whatever reason; his own familiar musk too, stronger than the other foreign scents. Layered over the top of all that was the bitter tang of anguish, the sour taste of dread, and the sharp spike of fear.

Looking away from the bunnies, she turned to him, lips slightly parted and drew several shaky breaths. He wanted nothing more than to sweep her up in a hug; to shield her from the hurt of the world. Compassion blossomed in her gaze as she shook her head gently, seeming to draw strength from him. For the first time in his life he gladly gave all that he could, all that another needed, and never once hesitated to think of what it could cost him. As she turned back to the bunnies determinedly, he could see how she was fighting herself, unwilling to stop until she'd finished.

"No," she said again, shaking her head as her voice and shoulder stilled. "You do not. _Ever_. Accuse him. Of anything. _You do **not** have that right!_ "

Silence reigned for a moment. "Judy, dear-" her mother began softly.

She was cut off by words that were more anguished shriek than speech. " _Sneak into your bed_ ; _trick you into doing something_ ; _trust him_." Judy was trembling again, more violently than before. She shook her head rapidly, biting her lip and breathing rapid, heavy breaths through her implausibly animated nose. "Nick has endured crap like that his _entire life_ ," she snarled, still shaking her head. "He's gone through things - _lived_ things - that I don't even want to imagine. And you come in here like that." She was shaking so badly now her ears were visibly swaying along half their length. "How dare you," she cried.

Her voice broke as she finished and she turned to hurl herself at him. He was being grasped like the most precious thing in the world by this stormy goddess; by this brilliant, energetic, determined rabbit; by his indomitable and terrifyingly loyal _friend_ as she wept into the fur of his bare chest. Ignoring his own swirling feelings, ignoring the depth of all that had just been said, ignoring the two stunned bunnies, he wrapped his friend in his arms and tail. Caring nothing for decorum or rules or proper conduct, his world faded to the sobbing rabbit he was embracing as he curled protectively around her. He gently stroked her ears - pressed flat against her skull and back - and nuzzled her softly as a small whine of distress escaped him, her anguish tugging painfully at his own heart.

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Eventually the tears slowed, then stopped. Throughout it all her parents hadn't bothered them and they had all but vanished from his awareness as he simply held her, offering what comfort he could.

"I'm sorry," she croaked at last. "I meant _everything_ , but I shouldn't have said half of that like I did. It's been a tough few weeks and I..." She looked up at him with a weak, watery smile. "Emotional bunny."

That wrung a small chuckle from him as she buried her face back into his chest. He looked up as her mother spoke, the older bunnies and the rest of the hospital room sweeping back into his awareness.

"No..." Her nose was twitching madly, ears firmly down and expression sad. She began to approach slowly, reaching out towards her daughter. "You were right, dear. Nick told me a little about himself and you were absolutely right to say all that." Her paw came to rest on Judy's arm. "I think..." she said slowly, cautiously. "I think we both needed to hear that. I'm sorry, Judy."

His friend shook her head, nose still buried in his fur. "It's not me that needs an apology."

Her mother sighed and nodded. She looked up at him, remorse clear on her features - though he couldn't tell if it was remorse for her words and actions or for her daughter's reactions to them. "Judy's right, again." Her speech was soft but clear; honest, too, if he was any judge. "I'm sorry, Nick. I shouldn't have come in here and started by assuming just about every stereotype that popped into my head was true. You may not have heard them but I shouldn't have made the accusations I did either."

He hesitated for a moment, too busy trying to contain his surprise and uncertainty to respond. _Another bunny apologising? To a fox?_ "Ah... I, um... I'm sure it was a, uh, _unexpected_ situation, missus Hopps," he offered. "I think anyone could be forgiven for a, ah... Strong reaction, especially a parent."

Judy peeled herself away from him and spun to hug her mother. "Thanks, mum," she whispered, quiet enough that he barely caught it. The two females spent a few moments locked together before they separated and both turned to glare at the remaining bunny.

Nick had to fight back a laugh at the series of expressions that crossed her father's face. It seemed like both were having separate silent conversations with him and he was losing both. Eventually, he crumbled.

"I'm sorry, Nick," he said with a sigh. "I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. **But** , a father _does_ have the right to look out for his children, no matter how old they get."

"I understand mister Hopps," Nick replied smoothly, well aware that the last sentence was directed in equal parts to Judy and himself. "Like I said, an unexpected situation and anybody, especially a parent, could be forgiven for a strong reaction." They exchanged nods as Judy crossed the room to him. She hugged him at the same moment that he found himself pulled into an embrace by her mother.

"I'm sorry," she whispered in his ear before pulling away and crossing the fading room to join in the Hopps family hug.

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He was on a train, his friend sat opposite him. It rattled and clanked and made a host of other strange noises, just like any other. The view, though, was unique. Never before had he seen so much green. Parks and meadows and such were common enough in the city but the largest of those was a drop in the ocean he found himself hurtling through. They talked and laughed, enjoyed the scenery and each other's company. Snacks were munched as they chatted and joked but through it all, he could clearly see the tension rising in her.

In contrast, his own nerves weren't growing, albeit largely because he was already so tense. In yet another moment of madness, he'd accepted her invitation to visit Bunnyburrow with her. What had he been thinking? He was literally a fox throwing himself into a bunny den; it was becoming nearly terrifying, the things he'd agree to do with or for his friend.

As her parents had been preparing to leave the hospital, they'd asked when Judy would be coming home. She'd perked up - surprising him given how strongly she'd reacted to the idea of that the night before - and explained that the chief had just given her her job back. She claimed she couldn't go into details because it was all related to the ongoing cases against Bellweather and her accomplices, but as far as the force was concerned, she'd never actually quit. All the mammals who'd been exposed to the night howler toxin would be kept in the hospital until the end of the week - though it'd be longer if any showed signs of reversion - and she'd been given two weeks medical leave to use after that.

Having given up her apartment, she would indeed be coming back to Bunnyburrow until she or the ZPD personnel department could find her a new place to live. She would feel a lot better though, if he was nearby, so as long as he agreed to it, she'd be home for at least a week. Still processing the idea, he'd not had time to come up with an excuse that'd hold water (or perhaps he hadn't wanted to?) before she'd asked if he'd keep her company for a week.

They were on the platform then, being greeted by her smiling mother and another bunny who was nearly as energetic as Judy, introduced as one of her sisters. All piling into an old truck, Judy's sister began to drive, the three rabbits exchanging news in a bewildering medley of names and what surely must have been in-jokes. Eventually Judy broke off from all that to act as impromptu tour guide, bringing him into the friendly conversation. She seemed to have relaxed a little - their warm reception likely responsible - but her voice was still a little tense, a little worried for him, he knew.

The Hopps residence didn't look like all that much as they arrived. A wide, low, single-story building set in front of a small hill with an extended porch running along the full width. Judy had said she had a large family though, and this modest structure didn't look like it had _that much_ space. Maybe it was a perspective thing and the building was further from the hill than it looked?

Walking up to his friend's family home, he noticed there were several large round doors instead of the single front entrance he'd expected. When he pointed this out Judy just shrugged and explained in a lightly teasing tone - intimating it should have been obvious, though without the barbs that would otherwise have been attached to that sentiment - that it was a matter of both practicality and safety. "How long do you think it'd take to shove an entire warren of bunnies through a single bunny-sized hallway and a single bunny-sized door? School runs would be a nightmare and I don't think any of us wants to think about the trainwreck it'd be if there was a fire or a flood or something."

_Warren? Why is this place called Bunny_ burrow _then?_ The building was also looking more and more like it was built onto the side of the hill too, making him suspect she was joking. No way was there enough space for a family big enough to need multiple front doors! He was about to voice his suspicions when Judy's sister swung open the circular door they were in front of. Finding his ears laying flat against his skull, he tried to process what he was seeing.

The entrance area was a fairly large room lined with coat hooks and benches that stretched from wall to wall without interruption. They were built over a series of vertical partitions, turning them into convenient floor-level storage units and the whole thing looked handmade - big, thick planks fastened together with deliberate gaps between them; a pale varnish on top polished as smooth as glass through many years of use.

The wall opposite the front entrance had a similar round doorway, this one open. Through it, he could see what looked like the beginnings of a carnival maze: a circular passage that angled gently upwards and to the right, a second to the left of that one which curved sharply off to the left, and a third, to the right of the first but sharing a wall with it, which ran more or less straight for a while before snaking down and left. A multitude of curved doors lined the walls of the right-hand tunnel, painted in a variety of cheerful colours.

Before he knew it, he found himself being dragged along by the paw down the left-hand tunnel, Judy eagerly leading him into a truly mind-bogglingly extensive maze of winding circular halls. "I explained to mum about my nightmares," she called over her shoulder as their tunnel began to descend - not that he had the first clue where he was relative to the door. "She got dad and a couple of my siblings to break down one of the old bunk beds and rebuild it as a single larger one for you."

Stunned at the gesture, he took a moment to respond. "You got your family build a bed? Just for me?"

They came to a stop outside one of the odd, curving doors, this one painted a soft, duck-egg blue. "Yes," she said softly. "I would have done it myself if I had to, Nick." She looked up at him with a smile of genuine happiness. "But my parents seem to have come around to the idea of me having a foxy friend."

He cocked his head, puzzled. "Why would being a friend make a difference to this?"

"Becuase friends tend to visit each other," she explained gently, her smile now compassionate. "I won't be spending a huge amount of time in Bunnyburrow anyway and I figured I'd be inviting you along most - or every - time I do visit." She chuckled, noting the panicked look that had crept onto his face. "You don't have to say yes every time, dumb fox," she teased. "An invitation isn't an order." She turned to open the door and led him into the room.

It was surprisingly roomy: three beds - two bunny-sized with wardrobes next to them and one that was plenty large enough for him - and a couple of small desks up against one of the walls. One of the beds was clearly Judy's - the all-blue colour scheme was a bit of a give-away, along with the ZPD posters. The other small bed was surrounded with bits of paper, small models and weird gizmos and belonged to science-fiction fan if the Star Wars bedding was anything to go by. If his bed, looking rather inviting with fresh, cream-coloured sheets, weren't there, he thought there would have been space for another half-dozed bunny beds.

"I'll unpack, you have a look around," Judy offered. "Just try not to get lost."

He shot her a smirk. "Fluff, I know every side street and back alley in Zootopia. I think I can handle one little house."

She grinned back at him. "It's called a _warren_ for a reason, you know."

"Actually, can I ask you about that?"

"Hmm?"

"Well this place is called Bunny _burrow_ and I always heard that rabbits lived in 'burrows'..."

"Oh, right, yeah," she rubbed the back of her head with one paw, looking a little embarrassed. "Please don't make fun of this?" she asked. He held up his paw in the Ranger Scouts' salute and plastered an expression of childishly exaggerated seriousness. "Basically a warren is a bunch of connected burrows," she explained. "This qualified as a warren as soon as my oldest siblings started their own burrow a little way around the hill and the tunnels ended up connected."

He cocked his head to one side, curious. "What's embarrassing about that?"

"I um..." she trailed off, looking confused. "Oh, right!" she exclaimed suddenly, facepawing. "City fox." Taking a deep breath before continuing, she motioned him towards one of the desks and the chair next to it. He didn't want to be rude but since there was no way he'd fit into the tiny seat he just sat on the edge of the desk. "So..." she rubbed her arm, ears drooping and refusing to look him in the eye. "Normally it's kind of expected that the oldest kits - certainly the first litter, and depending on how, ah, _prolific_ the parents are, usually the first _few_ litters - will all move a decent distance away to begin their own burrows."

"So you're not the only odd bunny to have grown up in your parents' burrow." It wasn't a question, just a teasing little jab and he was relieved when it wrung a small chuckle out of her.

"I guess... Anyway, yeah. Um, that usually happens to help make sure nobody ends up erm... Well... Dating a relative." She finished in a squeak so rapid he took a moment to figure out what had actually been said. Abruptly turning away from him, she hurriedly unzipped her bag and began to sort through the contents.

Though there were plenty of things he could have said, because _rabbits_ and _multiplying_ , she'd asked him not to so he held his tongue. Glancing around, he figured he'd take her up on her offer of looking around. There wasn't much else in the room so he cautiously wandered back out into the hallway. Suddenly remembering how many twists and turns she'd led them through to reach her room he decided to swallow his pride and call over his shoulder, "You don't have a map, do you? Just in case? I'd rather not starve if I did get lost."

She shook her head, a smug grin on her face. "Nnnnnope!" It was way too cheerful for his liking and he felt his tail curling slightly in dread. "Maps don't really work for rabbit burrows," she said, still far too happy about it. "The tunnels go up and down and twist and wind around each other so much there isn't really a way to make a floorplan. It's all kind of one big, three-dee floor."

His ears plastered back against his skull as he realised that she was being serious. _What the_ hell _have I gotten myself into?_

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_So. Many. **Bunnies**!_ Nick gulped as he glanced around, utterly surrounded by the very real swarm of Judy's relatives. The smallest of the bunnies formed a seething, roiling ring of fluff, full of whispers and squeaks. It circled and writhed, never still but never getting closer than several metres, the eye-searingly cute little kits apparently having decided that was the minimum safe distance. The older kits were acting more or less like any other group of teenagers: mostly ignoring him and the rest of the universe as they watched TV and tapped away at their phones. A few of them - the more obviously sporty bucks - looked like they were sizing him up too. That didn't bother him - macho posturing and showing off in front of their siblings, and probably a few friends as well, he realised.

Judy had figured eating with the rest of her family might be a bit overwhelming so she'd decided to find her mother. Not wanting him to either get lost or spend the time staring at the wall of her room - and to avoid needing to traipse back and forth to collect him - she'd brought him along. That had sounded great as it vastly reduced the chances of him starving to death in an abandoned tunnel somewhere. It had been, too, until they reached this cavernous lounge, an enormous domed room lined with sofas and cosier alcoves containing TVs and piles of beanbags. He come to a surprised stop, mouth agape as he took in the sight of a hundred or more bunnies all in just one room of this house.

Judy had continued walking, completely unfazed, for a bit before she'd noticed he wasn't with her any more. She turned back to find him then paused, expression falling, as she saw his flabbergasted expression and noticed how he'd been surrounded by the buzzing mass of kits. They flowed around her as she came back over, the kits never seeming to stop moving but somehow dodging each other. "Hey," she said gently as she arrived next to him. "Sorry about this," she gestured around at the room in general. "I lost track of the time. So much for not overwhelming you, huh?"

Slick, con-mammal smile firmly in place, he shrugged as though there was nothing wrong. "It's fine," he placated. "Nobody's attacking me so I'll count that as a win." It was intended to be a joke but he winced as his friend's expression became outright miserable. Not comfortable with trying to comfort her, or with the idea of talking openly with so many very large ears in the room, he tried to prod her into moving. "Come on," he said brightly, "you were going to find your mum, remember? Doesn't look like she's in here." She looked at him in confusion until he glanced around as subtly as he could.

"Oh, right, yeah!" she exclaimed with forced cheer. "Yeah, so um, this way, come on."

She led him through the doorway opposite the one they'd entered through and he found himself in a tunnel about twice as large as the others he'd seen. Following it as it curved gently left and upwards, they emerged into another large, domed room, this one looking more like a cafeteria with dozens of small rectangular tables spread around, low benches next to each one. "We're uh, probably gonna eat with my parents in their dining room." Her voice was subdued, a hint of distress in her tone.

Deciding that they were secluded enough for the moment, he stopped with a sigh. "C'mere," he said gently, opening his arms. Turning towards him, he saw the large, fake smile she was wearing shrink and soften, becoming genuine. Her eyes shimmered and she sniffed as she crossed over to him and planted her forehead against his chest, much as she had weeks ago under the bridge.

"Emotional bunny," she mumbled into his chest. Relived at the wonderfully familiar words, he chuckled lightly with her.

"I'm okay," he said, quiet enough that it was nearly a whisper. "I was joking downstairs, you know."

She nodded, pulling back. "I know. I just... I wasn't expecting trouble from the kits - either too young to be a problem or too cool to care about the guest - but that... And what you said... It reminded me that some of my older siblings might not be as nice as they would be to most guests."

"Don't," he offered sincerely. "I've heard a lot of cr-" he was cut off as she reached up and grabbed his muzzle, holding it shut.

"Vegetables, please," she said softly. "You never know when there are kits around."

Blinking in surprise at the unexpected move, he nevertheless nodded and she released his muzzle. "Sorry, not used to trying to keep track of so many mammals all at the same time."

She grinned. "Nobody can. That's why the standing policy is 'better safe than sorry'."

"Right." He scratched one ear, uncertain whether he should bring the mood back down. In the end he decided it needed to be said. "The point is, I've heard just about everything and if anybody starts being difficult, I'll just grin and bear it." He shrugged. "I don't want to cause trouble, Carrots."

"No, Nick, you won't." Her voice was firm, determined, and full of compassion. "If anybody starts 'being difficult', _I'm_ going to make trouble for _them_."

He shook his head and opened his mouth but was cut off before he could even begin.

" _No_ , Nick. Remember the hospital? I'm _not_ going to stand around and do nothing while you, my friend, are insulted. That's not how this works."

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Safely ensconced back in her room after an excellent home-made meal, they talked and laughed for a while before getting ready to turn in. Although he still had only the vaguest sense of the warren's layout, he'd at least managed to learn where the nearest bathroom was so there wouldn't be any need to embarrass himself by waking her in the middle of the night should nature call.

He was already in bed, fighting the urge to curl up protectively, wanting to luxuriate in the delicious softness of the bedding, when she got back from changing and washing up. He felt a little guilty, stopping her from being able to change in her own room. About to open his mouth to apologise, he found himself frustrated yet again.

"Nope!"

He frowned at her. "Carrots, -"

"No, Nick, don't apologise. You haven't forced me out of my routine or anything just by being here."

"Okay, firstly," he chuckled. "You're getting far too good at that. Secondly, I was just going to say sorry for stopping you from being able to change in your own room."

She tilted her head at him in clear surprise. "You'd have expected me to change here if you weren't around?"

He looked back at her, as puzzled as she sounded. "Isn't that kind of the point of having your own bedroom?"

She raised an eyebrow then after a moment turned her head to look pointedly at the other bunny-sized bed.

"A sister?" he guessed.

Her face fell slightly before she forced on a smile. "No, actually. My parents decided that each litter would share a room until they became adults, at which point we'd either be moving out or get our own rooms." She shrugged non-committally. "There's not exactly a shortage of space in the warren anyway, but it works out as around half moving out pretty permanently when they start to settle down." She looked up at him and frowned. "Whatever you're thinking of saying, don't say it," she ordered.

Not even surprised at her any more, he just rolled his eyes. "Fine, I won't apologise for making you uncomfortable, or asking an intrusive question, or whatever it is that's got you fake-smiling." Now it was her turn for an eye roll. "Now I don't mean to pry, and you can always tell me to shut up, but..."

Flopping down on her bed, she exhaled heavily through her nose. "No," she said quietly, "it's fine. I just..."

_Emotional bunny,_ he thought to himself as he waited for her to continue. About to suggest she didn't have to say anything and that they should go to sleep, he froze as she started speaking again.

"My litter was exceptionally small," she explained, voice rich with the mournful notes of melancholy. "Just me and James, right from day one." She paused, swallowing thickly. "There was another kit; stillborn."

He desperately wanted her to stop, hating himself for causing her to relive such obviously painful memories. Despite that, he couldn't speak, couldn't bring himself to interrupt. It was her gaze that did it: focused on something far beyond the confines of the physical universe, something only she would ever be able to find.

"It's not like we aren't friends with all our siblings," she continued, voice still sad and distant. "But it's inevitable that cliques tend to form, and they tend to be a per-litter deal. James was my closest friend growing up. He was the only one to ever really support me, though it was in that half-sarcastic, 'don't really care' way that siblings have. He never tried to tear me down, or convince me that I'd never make it. It was all words, though. He never really _did_ anything to support me." She shrugged listlessly.

"I'm not mad at him or anything, that was just how it was. He's still one of my closest siblings." She turned to look at him then, taking a moment to bring her focus back from infinity. "Bunnies are very social and if I wasn't weird enough for wanting to be a cop, I had just about the smallest and most mixed-species group of friends of anyone in town. And then we all went off to work or college or university. James went to study engineering abroad and I got in to do criminology and law."

She was back to gazing beyond the real world as her story continued. "Back to no real friends. I made a few - I think I'd have gone mad if I didn't - and they helped a lot with the legal fight to get into the academy but we fell out of touch after I got in. Probably my fault, to be honest. Too focused on getting through, one day at a time." She sighed then, back in the present. "Anyway," she said with forced lightness. "The point is, these rooms are intended for a full litter of bunnies, male and female together, so everyone changes in the bathrooms until they get their own individual rooms."

He sat up on the bed, allowing the covers to fall away, uncaring of the fact that he was only in his boxers. A lump in his throat and eyes that were _not_ damp, damnit, he opened his arms. His friend didn't hesitate to accept the invitation and he was instantly embraced by and embracing a bunny. _What a weird way for life to turn out..._

"You were willing to let me walk away," he murmured into her ear.

She nodded into his chest. "I messed up so badly. I _hurt_ you. I had no right to anything you didn't want to give. And I wasn't going to push anything. It had to be you; your decision."

He closed his eyes and squeezed her gently, overwhelmed by the thought of a mammal who not only wanted to be his friend, but was willing to sacrifice so much of her own happiness for him. He'd done his research over the last week, learning what he could about rabbits. The fact that stood out now, the words unspoken yet no less meaningful for it, was that rabbits _were_ very social creatures. To the point where clinical depression was a very real danger for most if they were starved of contact with other mammals. That he'd been her only real friend ever so briefly during the missing mammals case weighed on him almost as heavily as knowing what she'd have been doing to herself if she really did let him walk away; what he would have done to her if he had.

Once they'd both calmed and she'd moved back to her bed he lay back down, suddenly drained. The lights flicked off with a soft click and he was just able to make out his friend slowly lowering herself to her own pillow. The sharp crinkle of paper startled them both, her ears leaping to attention as she sat up and his own perking forwards as his eyes widened at the unexpected noise. Eyes still adapting to the dark, he was only able to make out coarse details. Her embarrassed squeak though, he could hear just fine.

"Oh carrot sticks," she grumbled. "I'm sooo sorry about that Nick."

"What was it?"

"Oh, um..." It was remarkable how much embarrassment she could squeeze into two disconnected syllables. "Please don't be mad at me?"

"Fluff, with everything that you've done for me, there's no way I could be mad at you for a bit of paper. Now come on, spill."

Instead of speaking, she got back up and paced over to his bed, cautious in the dark. She reached out and he met her paw in the air, taking the paper. Cautiously unfolding it, his breath caught sharply as his gaze met the faint glint of gold in the dim grey outline of a very familiar crest. It took him a moment to find his voice. "You... kept this?"

She nodded before scooting back over to her bed, the absence of ears in her silhouette as telling as her tone: nervous and ashamed. "I meant it when I said I thought you'd make a good cop, Nick. I understand if you don't want to but it really would be amazing to have you as a partner, to be able to work with you. You don't have to just because I want it though." She stood there for a moment longer, shoulders slumped, before climbing back into bed. "I kept it as a reminder of what I did, of the mistakes I made. I'm sorry, Nick."

"I forgave you, Judy," he whispered into the dark.

"I know," she replied just as softly. "But I'm still sorry."

Tired though he was, he lay awake for a long time. Should he do it? _Could_ he do it? Did he want to do it? What would it mean if he did? Trying to calm his thoughts, he rolled slowly to look at his friend in her own bed. She was so peaceful, the sight of her did calm him. In that calmness, in the centre of the storm his life had become ever since Judy Hopps had come crashing into his life, he came to a slow realisation.

Despite the incident at the press conference, despite some rocky patches, she really did believe in him.

His friend, who'd schemed to protect him from wolves, who'd fought to protect him from mad sheep, who'd been injured protecting him, and who had fought her family - her parents - for him. She believed in him.

Never mind that there had never been a fox in the ZPD. Never mind the bad blood and history that most used to justify their prejudice. Never mind that he'd hustled her and tried to derail her first real bit of police work. She believed in him.

Two hundred and fifty miles away from where his mind dreamed the night away, a smile grew on Nick's long muzzle. Unbeknownst to the slumbering fox, back in the city that he'd lived in for his entire life, the swirling grey storm he'd been dreaming of was smiling in her sleep too.

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Dinner had been wonderful, but her parents had seemed a little... On edge, for the entire meal. Now at last, with the meal finished and the crockery cleared away, her mother spoke.

"Judy, dear, your father and I have something to show you."

_Are they trying to keep Nick out of this?_ Her smile started to fade at the unpleasant thought.

"Nick is welcome to come too, if you want him there, but this _is_ something of a family matter."

Reassured, Judy nevertheless shook her head after a moment to think about it. "I'll probably end up telling him about it anyway. May as well save me the breath and have him there."

Her father looked like he was going to say something about that but was stopped by a not-as-discreet-as-she-though elbow from her mother. "Of course, that's fine, dear. Come on then, let's go through to our lounge."

Judy nodded and they all stood. Noting Nick's slightly blank expression, she started to explain as they walked. "My parents basically have their own apartment up here on the top level. It's the only way they can ever get some time to themselves. Well, _could_ get time to themselves. It's gotten easier as more of us have grown up and have been able to help out around the warren." Nick nodded along as she spoke, apparently happy to stay quiet - unusual for her snarky friend, admittedly, but perhaps he was just in something of a food coma?

Silly as it was, a little thrill ran through her as they crossed the threshold of her parents' private lounge. While it wasn't exactly a forbidden area, there was an unwritten rule that nobody but her parents came into their apartment without an invitation. She and her older siblings had enforced that particular rule with more rigidity than most others, wanting to both thank their parents and keep in their good graces. It hadn't been uncommon for some of them, having been told off for one thing or another, to seek redemption by more or less standing guard outside the lounge door.

She couldn't help the happy little shiver that came when her father went over to the fireplace either. Fires, and the smoke they produced, could be utterly lethal in a tunnel system - well ventilated tunnels sucked the smoke away but fed the fire with fresh oxygen and badly vented tunnels starved the fire but also choked everything else - so this was the only fireplace in the warren. Dragging Nick over to the sofa nearest to where the flames would soon begin their hypnotic dance, she pulled him down onto the luxuriously soft cushions.

The other perk of not allowing kits in here was that the fittings could be a bit nicer as there was far less risk of someone accidentally damaging anything. The furniture reflected that of course, but it was also evident in the floor: rich oak planks, carefully sanded down and fitted together seamlessly; stained a gorgeous deep brown - which did a wonderful job of bringing out the wavy grain patterns - the oak was a far cry from the much cheaper softwood used elsewhere in the warren.

Keeping to the theme the floor established, the walls were painted a much darker colour than was typical elsewhere in the warren and the ceiling wasn't host to so much as a single lighting strip either. Instead, carefully placed floor-standing lamps provided a soft, warm, background glow. The effect could easily have tipped over into gloomy, but her parents had devoted years to perfecting the room, making it feel wonderfully cosy even without the fire. It was the kind of room in which you could happily close yourself away from the world.

With a start, Judy realised that she could count - okay not _quite_ on one paw, but nearly on one paw, the number of times she'd been in here. _But mum invited him along too!_ Her earlier trepidation vanishing, she relaxed into the sofa as her mother clattered mugs around in the kitchenette hidden in a discrete alcove. The fire abruptly flickered into life and her father stood up looking pleased.

"This is a lovely place, mister Hopps," Nick blurted out of nowhere. "It just feels nice and snug; homely, I guess."

Her father beamed, clearly delighted. "Why thank you, Nick. It took us a fair while to get it like this but I like how it's turned out."

Nick nodded enthusiastically. "It feels quite a lot like a den, actually - though I don't suppose it is since I'm in here." He paused, noting the look on her father's face. "Is that a thing for bunnies? Do you guys have dens?"

"No, we don't," her father said slowly. "I've only really heard it used in stories," he continued. Judy sat bolt upright, alarmed, but he carried on before she could get a word out. "Warnings to kits, mostly. Things like 'be good or a fox'll come and drag you off to his den'."

There was no way her father noticed, but Nick's mood fell. His eager, mostly real smile hardened like setting plaster and his eyes dulled as the good humour faded from them. This time it was her mother that spoke before she could do more than open her mouth.

" _Stu_!" she practically yelled, startling all of them. "By all that's green and growing, will you _please_ think about what you're saying for a moment?"

They were all on the sofas then, steaming mugs of tea in paw, and her father was looking more than a little sheepish. Nick had perked up a bit too, she was glad to see. Her father's apology must have been pretty sincere if the master hustler, the mammal-reading expert, was satisfied.

The TV came on, her mother stepping back and crossing to the sofa she had been sharing with her father. There was the murmur of conversation, a low hum that she knew was important but for some reason she couldn't focus on it properly. Abruptly her attention switched to the TV and she gasped as the image - and headline - became her entire world.

"- Officer Hopps was injured while attempting to bring evidence in to the ZPD," Chief Bogo was saying. " _That_ is what put her in a position where Bellweather was able to expose her to the toxin that causes savagery. Her competence and conduct are beyond question in my eyes."

"You call her 'Officer', but didn't she resign nearly two months ago?" asked a deer in what was clearly a very cheap brown suit.

"Officer Hopps' 'resignation' was staged as part of the investigation into the savage mammals cases. There was reason to believe a degree of political influence was being exerted on the situation and the mammals involved. That meant there was a risk that someone in city hall might be able to warn the perpetrators of any overt investigation."

This was the press conference that Bogo had held a few days ago. Her parents had recorded the whole thing. As she processed that, her boss answered another question - one that she'd completely missed.

"Thanks largely to Officer Hopps' efforts, yes, we do believe the threat has been dealt with. If nothing else, we have the full details of how mammals were being driven savage and now, what seems to be a working cure."

" _Seems_ to be working?"

"It has been administered to all the affected mammals, including Officer Hopps, and they all appear to have recovered. They are being kept under medical supervision for the next few days but we fully expect them to be released from hospital soon."

"What about the press conference after she found the missing mammals?" someone else shouted.

"There was no script for that, it wasn't planned in any way," Bogo rumbled. "Officer Hopps was deliberately thrust up on stage with no preparation as we needed her reactions to be authentic and believable. Her words were not malicious, nor were they intended to cause any of the problems that they did. She was panicked by the sight of a crowd of reporters buzzing with nervous whispers and repeated something she'd heard one of Lionheart's doctors saying in an attempt to keep you lot, the press, under control." The projector clicked on and the footage from her phone began to play, showing the badger in a lab coat at twice life-size talking to the former mayor.

She didn't understand. Why did her parents have this recorded? Why were they watching it? The footage changed; now showing another press conference, mugshots of Bellweather's hench-sheep projected across the entire wall behind the chief. Now it was footage of the outside of the Natural History Museum, police cruisers doing a poor job of hiding the destroyed entrance. The reporter in front of the camera was speaking rapidly, the words blurring together in a confusing medley. One sentence jumped out at her though.

"- report of a savage fox attacking Officer Hopps, a report which our source claims was made by Mayor Bellweather herself."

The scene changed again and her heart fell as she recognised the scene: a tiny grey bunny desperately trying to keep an angry pig and an increasingly agitated feline apart.

It was over. The recordings had finished. All was silent.

"Judy, dear," her mother spoke softly, hesitant to shatter the quiet that had descended upon the room. She couldn't look away from the dark screen, was barely even aware of Nick by her side. Her mother stood up and crossed over to her, kneeling in front of her where she sat. "We never did encourage you to follow your dream. You were absolutely right about that. But you were going to do it no matter what we said and we were just so, so worried for you."

She wrenched her eyes from the TV and found herself struggling to respond as she met her mother's shockingly intense gaze. Now her father stood and came over too. He stood to one side but looked at her in exactly the same way, something she couldn't identify in their faces.

"We were right, too, you know," he said. It wasn't smug, not told-you-so; his tone was too resigned for that. "Look at what happened to you in your first month, Judy. Two big cases, two Mayors arrested, savage mammals. _Look at what happened to you_ ," he repeated. "Look at what you survived, at what you achieved."

Judy wasn't sure what she was hearing. The words were familiar - mostly - but the voices were wrong. For once they didn't sound nervous or admonishing or upset. Her gaze switched back to her mother as she resumed speaking.

"You never needed our encouragement, Judy. _Look at what you've achieved._ We will always worry about you, we will always ask if you're safe, and we will always be pleased to hear you're not doing something dangerous," she said earnestly.

"But never, _ever_ , doubt that we believe in you, Jude," her father continued. "We always have and we always will. It may not always show, but it's there."

"We're so, so, _very_ proud of you, dear," her mother finished. "You-"

She was cut off as Judy, unable to take any more of it, flung herself at her parents, pulling both into a desperate embrace. She was crying - full-on bawling, really - and didn't care that this was giving Nick all the ammunition he could possibly want for 'emotional bunny' lines.

Pride. That was what she'd seen in her parents faces. There was still some fear, some uncertainty, but the overwhelming impression was _pride_. Their love for her shone through it all too, illuminating them in that glow that was unique to her parents. Pride. Her parents were proud of her. Almost sparkling in the light of their affection for her, it was _pride_ that gleamed in every strand of fur as they spoke to her.

Remembering her parents revelation, made sweeter by having her best friend at her side, would never pull any reaction but a smile from Judy. Sighing contentedly in her sleep, she murmured a soft "I love you" into the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew. I know I said there'd be a bit more light-hearted stuff here but I think I like how this turned out. Either way, we're all caught up now. There will be a few call-backs - "remember that time when I..." kind of deals - but no more full flashbacks as the only remaining major event between the end of Nick's dream and the start of the first chapter is Bellweather's trial. Obviously Judy moves back to the city and Nick starts getting whipped into shape for the academy, but nothing interesting.
> 
> No, really: nothing at all that interesting.
> 
> In other news, I'm a little disappointed to have to announce a short hiatus. There are a few things that I just have to get sorted out but hopefully this won't cause a delay of more than a week or so, depending on how cooperative real life is feeling. It's annoying because now that we've caught up things are going to accelerate and I've been looking forward to being able to write this next chunk for a while - though admittedly not as much as I'm savouring the anticipation of the final few chapters.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who's read this far. Quick question before I go: do the tags need updating? I'm not sure and if something's missing please let me know. There are also a couple of things I know I could add, but might count as spoilers - should I put them in now or after the chapter(s) they'd spoil?


	14. Chapter 12: A Graveyard Shift

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back from hiatus! Yeah, so one week? Nah, life wasn't that cooperative. Plus work then went crazy and _then_ I got ill. Turns out trying to write this stuff with a pounding headache thanks to 'flu throwing a surprise party at my place and bringing insomnia and nausea along for lols is actually quite hard. Anyhoo, plenty of others are having a much tougher time than me, so I'll shut up now and let you get to the story.
> 
> Warning: emotional bunny incoming.

Much to her displeasure, Judy was both excited and annoyed. On the plus side, it was her first ever night shift - a new experience, a new part of the job, and she was eager to prove that she could do it just as well as anybody else. On the down side, Nick was back from the academy today and she'd spent the day sleeping. Sure, they'd kept up with their regular phone calls but it still sucked not being able to greet him on the platform, especially given how he'd worried about her ending up in the hospital _again_.

Thinking back on it, she had to smile - though it was a touch strained. Thankfully he hadn't gone as far as her parents were still wont to, but he'd still earned himself a few strong glares. She sighed. It had taken her a little while to view that argument a little more level-headedly but in the end it had actually been quite touching, to be honest: the hard-bitten city fox, the master hustler; a mammal who'd perfected the art of keeping his (nearly non-existent) friends close and his enemies (marks) closer had been genuinely concerned about her. If their positions had been reversed, with him in the hospital, she knew she probably wouldn't have reacted all that differently.

"Knock knock!"

She jerked in surprise at her partner's voice. "Oh, hey, Nadine!" she chirped. "What's up?"

The tigress had recovered well after the attack she'd suffered outside the tunnel three weeks ago. Judy had been horrified to learn of the seemingly coordinated attack that had been launched on the emergency services in and around the tunnel and for the whole first day she'd been in the hospital, she'd felt awful. The pounding headache that throbbed sickeningly in time with her heartbeat - the result of being knocked unconscious and sustaining a minor concussion - seemed to jam her thoughts on a single track with the surety of a roller-coaster: if she'd not been so slow, others wouldn't have been injured.

It had taken conversations with Bogo, Nadine, and Jim - the coyote who'd led her through her rescue attempt - to get her thinking more or less straight again. Bogo had been professionally concerned and stoic as ever but she suspected it was him that asked Nadine and Jim to talk to her when he was unable to get her to perk up. Nadine's state had worsened her guilt for a while and it had taken the more experienced officer several hours to convince her that she wasn't upset about being injured and of her sincere belief that she'd done an excellent job. It was Jim who'd finally put her distress to bed though. The veteran rescuer had arrived just after she and Nadine had finished their shared lunch and assured her that it was solely through her actions that Freddie had survived, that saving the kit's life meant that it was worth it, that the attacks were in no way her fault, and that the thought of blaming her hadn't even crossed the minds of anyone there.

Despite all that, Judy couldn't help the mild flash of guilt at the sight of her partner. While all of her more minor injuries from the brawl she'd found herself in were practically healed, her arm was still bulkier than usual in her sleeve thanks to a layer of bandages. _I should have been out there with her._

"Nothing really. Just checking how you're doing."

She chuckled, knowing where this was heading. "Yeah, I'm still awake. No, I'm not sleepy. Yes, I've planned this properly. No, I don't need coffee."

"Hey, tone down the sass, girl!"

"Or what? You'll turn off the lights?" They shared a laugh.

"Don't tempt me," Nadine threatened haughtily.

Judy smirked and patted the torch on her belt. Nadine snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Seriously though, are you okay?" she asked. Though coaxing Judy into talking and comforting her in the hospital had been strange and a little uncomfortable for her at first, she'd found the openness and honesty kind of inspiring, in a weird way. Though she was still far more comfortable with her own species' way of doing things, she had to admit that bunnies' 'anything goes' attitude did make having a long, engaging conversation a bit easier. That experience - just how un-phased Judy had been at the idea and act of sharing her feelings so openly _because_ of, never mind in spite of, her prodding - had also opened her eyes a little to what Judy had really meant. A month ago she certainly wouldn't have leapt straight from joking to questioning her friend.

Judy shrugged non-committally. "Just a bit annoyed about how everyone's timings worked out this week," she admitted. "Nick got back from the academy today while I was asleep and then he decided to get an early night because he's tired."

Nadine chuckled. "I think _I'm_ still tired from the academy."

"Yeah," Judy laughed. "I can't exactly hold that against him. At least it means he's really pushing himself."

"I don't think Friedkin would allow anything else, do you?"

"True," she conceded before falling silent again.

"Hey, come on," Nadine urged. "Even if you don't catch him this morning, I'm sure he'll be around tomorrow evening before our next shift starts."

Judy nodded and forced a smile. "I'm sure I will."

Nadine looked at her for a moment then returned the nod and settled into her own chair on the other side of the cubicle. Normally Judy would have had her own space - as she had in the immediate aftermath of the missing mammals case - but given that she was still officially 'learning the ropes' and that she took up about as much space as her partner's 'in' tray, it had been decided that they should share. It was a curious change but since she hadn't had a partner during the missing mammals case it kind of made sense for her to have her own space: if everyone else was already partnered up, who was she supposed to work with? Admittedly, that was a fairly weak excuse and she suspected the truth was closer to the fallout from the press conference alienating most of her colleagues. Given the gossip she'd heard about Nadine and the chief in the aftermath of that debacle and in the lead-up to Bellweather's arrest, she was fairly certain there was a significant degree of office politics involved as well.

Shrugging off that line of thought, Judy turned back to her work. She and Nadine had both had a week off following the incident in the tunnel and they'd both been on desk duty since then. In Nadine's case Judy conceded that it was probably a good idea - wrestling with an uncooperative suspect probably wouldn't do her arm much good - but she didn't feel a bump on the head warranted taking her off the streets for three weeks and counting!

The one good thing about the paperwork was that it was far from ordinary paperwork. In the aftermath of the Night Howler Conspiracy trials, a gradual but noticeable change had started to permeate the city. The case, and the evidence presented, forced many mammals to take a long, hard look at themselves and their own prejudices. The 'minor' unconscious biases that everyone grew up with were suddenly centre stage. There'd been an explosion in pop psychology books, and apparently an uptick in the sales of self-help books too - though she was admittedly unsure if there was a genuine link there.

Regardless, things had really been kicked loose at the ZPD press conference a few days after the trials finished. Despite the chief's sterling effort to calm the waters after the night howler cure had been developed, she'd known she'd need to make another public statement. The department had decided to wait until the trials were over to present her in the best possible light - which she was grateful for - but there was no escaping the fact that she'd been terrified at the thought of facing the press again.

Her misgivings weren't unfounded, but the carefully selected pool of reporters was significantly less hostile than those she'd faced before. There were a few pointed questions but her brutally honest, soul-baring statement - equal parts hauntingly distressed explanation and raw, agonisingly guilty apology - even had a few of them struggling to maintain their composure. She hadn't managed, of course, silent tears dampening her fur from almost the moment she began.

Even Chief Bogo had briefly seemed to have a slight thickness to his voice as he retook the podium at the conclusion of her session. The news he delivered then seemed to break the spell that she'd managed to place on the reporters though: the statement that the ZPD was withdrawing support for the Mammal Inclusion Initiative, effective immediately, caused uproar. A near-quote had made just about every headline in the city the next morning: "MII 'political sham' which 'encourages tokenism'". Of course, city hall had been up in arms at that. She shuddered at the thought, glad it was someone else's job to deal with _that_ fire. What the headlines had ignored, for the sake of sales, was the follow-up, which would probably have been phrased something like "ZPD developing tailored recruitment  & training programmes" - largely her work, in fact.

For most of the week before Bellweather's trial - her first week back after her medical leave in Bunnyburrow - she'd been on the phone, getting in touch with the police academy staff, SWAT instructors, self-defence clubs; anyone that might be able to offer some insight. For the week between the trial and the press conference she'd been busy drafting outlines of new regulations and training programmes. Bogo had called that press conference just hours after receiving her first working documents, intent on pushing an agenda that helped repair the image of the ZPD and distance the force from the previous mayors.

She'd been practically married to her desk for nearly a month after that, hammering out draft document after draft document: guidelines on what counted as 'reasonable adjustments to the workplace', regulations on uniform and equipment, updated anti-bullying, anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies for staff. Each one sent through the mammal resources and legal departments and, she was sure, looked over by internal affairs too. The end result: Bogo's announcement of a new scheme to replace the MII became signed into ZPD policy and the relevant internal departments, including the academy, started working to make it all happen.

Even as Nadine had taken her on, she'd stayed involved, helping make sure the new regulations and policies stayed true to their intended purpose. It had gotten harder to keep up with it all though, especially once she turned Weaselton and had to keep on top of him as well as her regular duties. The one good thing about being hospitalised and then being stuck on desk duty while her partner healed (because _she_ was fine now, really) was that she could catch up on it all.

Thus the one good thing about the paperwork: it was paperwork that _she_ had begun, a mark of how _she_ was changing the ZPD for the better. It was a thrilling expression of trust by the chief, being asked to directly shape the future of the force. She didn't have a veto or anything like that, but she had nevertheless been placed in an extremely powerful position. The second thing she'd insisted be written in absolutely and in no uncertain terms was that each regulation and policy was part of a living framework; as (hopefully) a more and more diverse range of smaller mammals joined the force the documents would be updated as required.

The first thing she'd insisted on was that every ZPD facility had a proper range of different sized toilets installed.

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Hours later, when even her enthusiasm had faded, Nadine tapped her on the shoulder. Making a token effort to suppress a huge yawn, she turned to the tigress with a slight shake of her head and a little sniff, making a questioning face.

"Come on, time to clock out."

She blinked. "Really?" Glancing over at the nearest clock she saw it was indeed time to go. "Wow, I-" she was cut off by another yawn. "I must've lost track of time." Closing the files she'd been working on, she began to pack up as Nadine did the same. "Is the night shift always like this?" she asked, dreading the potential answers.

Nadine chuckled roughly. "No. It's bad for the first day or two but then you get used to not seeing any sunlight."

Judy grunted at that. The ZPD enforced a four on/two off policy: four days at work then a standard two-day 'weekend'. The six-day week meant everyone's shifts rotated around the calendar weeks so everyone got a mix of time on-duty and time off during the actual weekends. Shifts could - and often would - be traded though, to help everyone stay flexible enough to be able to commit to plans with other mammals who worked a more standard week.

One of the expectations of being a rookie was that she'd be one of the mammals taking the holiday shifts and so she'd fully expected to be working hard over the next few weeks. Though she'd been somewhat annoyed that her first Foundation Festival and New Year in the city would be spent behind her desk, at least she'd be able to get out and see some of it in the evenings. Then Bogo had asked her and Nadine to swap to a night shift cycle for a few weeks because someone else was on medical leave - or was it a family issue? Regardless, she'd accepted the change with a smile and a grimace, upset but committed to putting her job first.

They'd been told about the change in the middle of their last work week, giving them only a day and a half to sort things out before their weekend, which was mostly spent sleeping in as late as possible and going to bed at silly o'clock in the morning to try to force their bodies into a nocturnal pattern of activity. Nadine's words were kind of reassuring - she wasn't doing badly at adjusting and her body's reluctance was normal - but also a little depressing as she realised that her partner wasn't really joking: night shifts in the depths of winter did literally mean she wouldn't see the sun for the next three weeks.

They clocked out and Judy made to say goodbye but Nadine spoke first. "Come on," she said, nodding towards her car. "I'll give you a lift." Judy nodded, grateful, not really wanting to fight through the morning commuter chaos to get home. Public transport had unnerved her a little when she first encountered it: mammals packed together with barely enough room to breathe, noisy old vehicles that rattled and clanked like they were falling apart, and awkward schedules that were never quite at convenient times with connections that more often than not ended up being missed by a single minute. All of that was so very different to the transport she'd grown up with: walking, cycling, her parents' trucks and tractors, and the occasional school bus.

She was yanked from her thoughts as Nadine abruptly slowed, pulling over sharply. "What-" she began.

"Someone on the ground over there," Nadine cut her off, pointing towards an alley on the left.

Giving herself a little shake to try to wake up a bit, Judy manoeuvred around in the seat until she was standing, the change in position just allowing her to see over the dashboard. Nadine was already getting out when she caught sight of what had made her partner stop. A rabbit, a doe judging by the clothes, was lying in the street. Suddenly very awake, she scrambled to disentangle herself from the seatbelt and hopped out of the car.

"Ma'am?" Nadine was asking as she approached the motionless doe. "Ma'am, are you alright?"

There was no response. Judy was now feeling quite uneasy and her breath caught as Nadine knelt down next to the prone bunny and gently nudged her arm. The arm moved, but it pulled stiffly at the shoulder it was attached to, the rabbit's torso shifting with it. That was when she knew. She was looking at a body.

"Shit," Nadine hissed viciously.

She was saying something else now but Judy couldn't hear her. A terrible, morbid fascination had a hold of her and she found herself walking around to get a look at the doe's face.

"Judy!" Nadine called. "Phone the station-" She cut herself off with a cry as Judy continued to move. "No! Don't-"

The doe's fur was snowy white - either a very unusual natural colouring or dyed, the insides of her ears a dull grey instead of the warm, vibrant pink that should have popped out like a rose in snow. She looked to be around her own age: early to mid twenties.

Judy's breathing was accelerating, starting to come in short, near-panicked huffs. Nadine was standing, starting to move towards her.

The doe's nose, unnaturally still, was also paler than it should have been, as though it were trying to blend in with the fur around her slightly parted mouth. Her expression may have been slightly surprised - it was difficult to tell with death beginning to pull her lips back, mixing a corpse's awful grin with whatever expression she'd died wearing.

"Judy," Nadine began to talk again.

That snowy white fur was almost pristine, Judy noted distractedly; she'd obviously taken good care of herself and her appearance, an impression bolstered by her smart clothes - a receptionist for a well-to-do company, or some other high-status desk job. That clean and sharp appearance was almost perfectly intact. Which made the horror of the yawning black pits where her eyes had been all the worse; a rough ring of fur around each gaping socket stained a vile rusty crimson.

In a detached, aloof way, Judy knew she was going to be sick. That distinctive, bitter, sour burn was starting to fill her throat even as her breathing quickened further, strained gasps escaping her as tears flooded down her face. The doe in front of her was becoming blurry and she shook her head in horror, trying desperately to tear her eyes away from the cold and dead gaze of the body before her.

Nadine's paw suddenly filled her vision and the spell was broken. With an anguished wail, she spun away, falling to her paws and knees as she threw up, shaking. Nadine was still talking but she couldn't focus on that. The only things that could find purchase in her mind were raw horror, fear, and guilt. All she could see, as though the image had been carved upon her retinas, was the white doe's ghastly grin and the bloody remnants of her eyes. She retched again.

Nadine was talking. There was noise and lights. She was looking at the body again, then throwing up again, this time bringing up nothing but bile. She was in a chair, someone gently cleaning around her mouth as she stared at the CSIs. They moved around the body with a routine precision that appalled and fascinated her. How could any of this be ordinary? Why was nobody screaming their anguish at this monstrous injustice to the heavens? Why was everyone ignoring the fact that this doe was _dead_? Why _was_ she dead when so many others might have taken her place?

More movement. She was in a car again. Someone was talking. All she could see was the doe's ruined face.

_Why did I have to die?_

_How could we let this happen?_

Questions bounced around her head, her own voice and the doe's unfamiliar voice caterwauling in ear-twisting, gut-wrenching dissonance.

_What good are the ZPD?_

_What could I have done better?_

_Why didn't you save me?_

_Could it have been me? Should it have been me? Was someone angry about the things I've said and done? Did a predator do this to get revenge on me?_

She was being carried now, a large, warm presence that she instinctively knew was friendly. She burrowing into it, trying to escape from the world, and cried. She cried and she cried until she was spent. Then she cried some more. Hours later, when it felt like her mind had been scoured with hot wire wool and her eyes bathed in acid, exhaustion claimed her and she fell into a shallow, fitful sleep.

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"Yes, Sir." Nadine hung up with a tired sigh. Judy had finally cried herself to sleep and she'd called in to tell Bogo about her diminutive partner's state. The chief had been understanding, though much to her vociferous displeasure, he'd been unable to give them more than one shift off.

 _"I'm sorry, Fangmeyer,"_ he'd rumbled, _"but you know how thin we're stretched right now."_

She'd snorted at that, freezing as Judy stirred and moaned at the sound. She understood the staffing situation perfectly well - she and her partner had just been asked to switch around to cover a shortage, after all - but had, perhaps unwisely, pressed Bogo about mental health. She'd been disrespectful but Bogo had fortunately been understanding of her stress and tiredness - not that those were acceptable excuses to her.

_"Believe me, Fangmeyer, if you two were supposed to be out in the field I'd find some way of getting both of you out of it for the next few days. You're just in the office though, you're not really doing much more than busywork so you'll be around_ just in case _something comes up and officers in the field need backup. You know how busy the holiday season will get for us. I'll talk to the mayor and mammal resources but I'm sorry, the best I can give you at the moment is until tomorrow night."_

She growled at the memory, glaring at the phone she'd _ever so carefully_ placed on the kitchen counter. Behind her, buried in a nest of blankets and cushions on the sofa, Judy whimpered in her sleep, tossing and turning. She grimaced and held back a shudder as memories of her own first time dealing with a body swam into her mind. Despite the unpleasantness lurking there she made use of the memory, now that it was there. She thought over her own reactions and pondered how they'd have changed if she were as innocent, reactive, and empathetic as her partner.

With a wince, she closed her eyes, feeling awful for the rabbit in the other room. Slowly, making sure she was as quiet as possible, she gathered a few things from the kitchen and brought them through to the lounge area. She set down most of the items on the small table in front of the sofa but kept hold of one glass of water. Carefully sitting down on the sofa, easily avoiding jostling the sleeping rabbit, she placed the glass down on the floor beside the arm of the sofa and pulled a blanket up around herself.

Leaning back with a soft sigh, she closed her eyes and resigned herself to a miserable afternoon of bad sleep. It didn't matter though, if she could be there for her partner. That fiery little rabbit had gone through too much for her to allow this to tear her down. She would not let her achievement and dreams turn to ash in the insidious flames of self-recrimination and self-doubt.

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Judy woke up feeling like she'd just gone a full twelve rounds in the ring with Bogo. Everything hurt and she started to feel nauseous again as the memory of the body clawed its way to the front of her mind once more. She looked around wearily, idly wondering where she was as she considered just laying there and allowing herself to throw up again. Spotting the familiar tigress beside her on the sofa, she realised that this must be her partner's home. Her eyes squeezed shut and she released a small groan without opening her mouth.

_Nadine's place. I guess I need to find the bathroom._

Although moving around was fundamentally unappealing right then, she forced herself to wiggle out of the blankets that almost completely encased her. Unfortunately the edge of the sofa was a lot closer than she'd thought and she found herself meeting the floor with a soft thump and a pained moan as her body voiced its distaste for her brief flying lesson.

"Judy?"

She paused, looking away from her partner, unable to meet what she was sure would be an angry or judgemental glare. Her throat worked for a moment as she struggled to swallow.

"Judy. Talk to me, please. What do you need?"

Not really believing her ears - because it sounded strangely like Nadine was nothing but concerned for her - she managed to croak a single word out to the floor. "Bathroom." She was moving then, gently lifted into a tender hold, cradled in one large orange arm, and carried across the over-sized room. Nadine's free paw came up to stroke her back and ears and she was unable to flinch away as that would have meant pressing herself closer to the tigress' chest.

She was speaking again but Judy ignored the words, not sure she could withstand whatever was being hurled her way. Despite herself, the stroking and the soft vibration of Nadine's voice began to sooth her. Her nausea retreated even as Nadine turned a corner and pushed through a door into the bathroom. A moment later she was being gently set down on the top surface of a large cabinet next to the sink embedded into it. She was left alone then, something she was grateful for as her eyes prickled and began to fill once more as guilt seeped into every nook and cranny of her being. Clamping her mouth shut along with her eyes as the nausea swept back with a vengeance, she leaned over towards the sink, quivering, just in case.

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Nadine hurried back into the bathroom with one of the stools from her breakfast bar. The pitiful state that Judy was in tore at her and she wished she could do more for the young doe. She set the stool down near the toilet and picked up her partner once more. Sitting down and placing the rabbit in her lap, she noted with concern that Judy was weeping silently again and making a half-hearted effort to ignore her and focus on the toilet beside them. Swallowing thickly, Nadine pondered how to break the silence as she hesitantly reached out and began to carefully stroke Judy's tense shoulders with the back of one finger. A few moments later she gave up on the idea as fruitless. Instead, she began to hum; a soft, simple melody that she was intimately familiar with from her own kittenhood - a warm and soothing lullaby.

Slowly, ever so painfully slowly, Judy's tears ceased. Her trembling took longer to fade but eventually the distraught doe calmed enough to slip back into sleep.

Never stopping her humming or stroking, Nadine gently got to her feet and carried her partner back to the sofa. She sat down slowly, leaning back enough to allow Judy to rest half in her lap, half on her stomach. Determined though she was to keep going, her own fatigue was pulling at her, her eyelids growing heavier by the second. Concious of trapping Judy, she reluctantly stopped her stroking, lest she fall asleep with her paw completely covering the small bunny. She kept humming though, even as she drifted away, the ancient melody slowly fading into silence.

Several hours later, the sun setting in a glorious explosion of colour, Nadine was re-awoken as Judy moved around in her lap. Wincing, she rolled her shoulders and lolled her head around as she tried to work out some of the knots in her back and the crick in her neck. Judy started to pull herself away as she moved.

"Hey, partner," she whispered. "Where are you going?"

"I..." Judy's voice was small and rough, as though she were ill. "I- I've imposed enough. I should get-"

"No." Nadine cut her off firmly. "You're not imposing _anything_ on me and I'm _not_ going to let you be alone right now."

There was a pause and a sniffle. "But... But why? Don't you hate-"

"Shh shh shh shh shh," Nadine soothed, knowing all too well how that had been about to end. She stroked her partner's side with her thumb, trying to ease some of the tension she could feel in her small body. "Judy, I need you to look at me." There was no response, as she'd more or less expected. "Judy. I've got something important to explain, something you need to hear. And I'm not going to tell it to the top of your head."

It took a minute, but eventually Judy managed to slowly lift her head. Nadine's heart cried out for the poor little bunny as she saw the anguish and guilt and fear carved on her partner's face, a face that, paradoxically, seemed all the more expressive because of how small it was. "Good," she cooed, fighting to keep her voice level. "Now, what I'm about to say is the absolute truth," she explained. Judy winced at that and tried to hide her face again.

Nadine sighed. "Judy. Look at me, please."

Hesitantly, the bunny turned towards her once more, lower lip quivering and eyes glistening.

"It's not you fault," she said simply. "That's the most important thing, Judy. None of this is your fault and you have _nothing_ to feel guilty about."

"But-"

"And," Nadine continued over Judy's attempted protest. "Nobody is mad at you. Nobody is blaming you. It's not your fault. You did everything you could and you have _nothing_ to regret or blame yourself for." The bunny's lip was quivering even faster now, her noise twitching in counterpoint. "It's not your fault," Nadine insisted softly.

Judy stared at her for a moment as she continued to stroke the rabbit's side. She offered a small, understanding smile and the damn broke. Judy burst into tears and buried her face into the rather rumpled t-shirt before her, small arms wrapping around as much of the tigress as she could reach. Nadine let her weep, continuing to stroke her as she shook from the force of her sobs. Softly, she began to hum the lullaby she'd used earlier.

Some time later, once her partner's tears had run dry once more, Nadine started speaking again. Her voice was soft and sincere as she opened up to the bunny more than she had to nearly anyone in a long time, gently telling Judy about her own first reaction to a body. "It probably didn't look like it, but I reckon I took it about as well as you are." She chuckled humourlessly. "I mean I hid it pretty well at the time - my partner certainly didn't know how much it had affected me - and it wasn't until a couple of weeks later when the lack of sleep and the guilt made me snap at the chief that it all came out."

Judy sniffed. "Really?" she asked, her voice terribly fragile.

Nadine nodded. "Yeah. I mean 'big strong tiger, apex predator' intimidated? Scared? Unsettled?" She paused. "Yeah, let's go with 'unsettled', by something a third my size?" She looked down and shook her head, still embarrassed by the whole thing. "I felt like utter crap for the whole two weeks that I tried to hide it all. All I could think about was 'what ifs'. What if we'd gotten the call a minute earlier? What if I'd driven more aggressively? What if we'd gotten luckier with the traffic lights?

"I'm not going to lie, Judy," she said sombrely. "It doesn't ever get any easier. For any mammal, to be slapped in the face with mortality like that..." Taking a deep breath, she forged on, despite her discomfort. "It's worse for us, for cops. Every time, it's a punch in the gut. Every time, it turns into a mess of 'could I have done better?', 'did I miss something?', 'was this my fault?', and a whole heap of 'what if?'s."

Looking up at her now, Judy seemed to be calmer as she asked, "How... How do you cope with it? I mean- those questions? I guess I'm relieved, a bit, that I'm not just being a dumb, emotional bunny. But I'm still asking myself those questions, you know?"

Nadine nodded. "It's hard, Judy, but that's because we care." She considered her next words carefully, not wanting to upset the young bunny in her lap any further. "If we weren't so hard on ourselves, if we didn't ask those kinds of questions, especially when there's a body... Well, we wouldn't make very good cops now, would we?" There was a minute of silence then, broken when Nadine realised she hadn't answered Judy's original question.

"As for coping, well, everyone has their own way," she - somewhat hesitantly - explained, looking the cautiously curious rabbit in the eye. "Some never really work it out and end up either quitting or transferring, switching to 'safer' work where they don't have to worry about facing this sort of thing. Some turn that doubt and guilt into anger and use that to fuel determination. I know a couple the guys who kind of freeze up: they go all cold and emotionless until the perp is caught. Once that happens they kind of break down, letting out all that bottled up stress."

"And you?" Judy asked softly once she'd stopped.

She snorted. "Does it really matter, Judy?"

The rabbit was looking at her with large, red-rimmed eyes, seeming to pierce her soul and pin her in place even as she tried to look away. "Yes, Nadine, it does," she practically whispered. "Your opinion matters to me. You're not just my partner, you're my friend."

Nadine didn't say anything. It wasn't that she didn't want to answer, she was just afraid of how Judy would take it.

_How do you_ think _a little bunny is going to react to being reminded exactly what her 'friend' is?_

"Nadine," Judy continued, her voice a little stronger but still rough. "You're the best officer in the precinct, meaning the best officer in the city. Mammals like you were my role models growing up. _Please_ ," she beseeched, "help me here. Tell me how you deal with it."

She shivered, unnerved by the raw emotion in the bunny's voice. _Mammals like me? Role models?_ Though internally scoffing at the idea in general, and especially that she might be a role model to a _bunny_ somewhere, she found a small frown growing on her face as she realised the implications of Judy's words. _Role model._ Simple words, but the level of admiration - of respect - they implied...

_If she's being honest then it won't matter what I say._

It was a strangely liberating revelation. Her rookie partner, a tiny little prey mammal, wasn't asking her to hold back. She was asking for the real her, the real tigress. Of course, if she wasn't being honest, then this would go horribly. The question the, was simple: was her partner being honest? Looking at her diminutive p- her friend, Nadine confirmed what she already knew: Judy was in no state to put up a convincing front. Tentatively, she steeled herself, deciding to trust her friend with her real self. Judy had earned that much respect, at least.

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Judy watched the frown growing on Nadine's face, the tigress looming above her in a manner that should have been intimidating. She was silent for a moment, several emotions flitting across her visage, and Judy was anything but intimidated; she felt safe, safer than she had in months, she realised.

Family was important to rabbits. They weren't just a highly sociable species: it was _family_ that was really important to them. Ancient instincts that screamed 'safety in numbers' had faded as they'd evolved, but still pressed. As society and civilisation emerged and as different species began to cooperate and live together, many prey species herd instincts had been soothed by the presence of large numbers of mammals. For rabbits though, 'safety in numbers' had never really lost it's original, more primal meaning - hence their often rather large families.

Even though she was hardly the model rabbit, Judy was still a rabbit. Cut off from her family by a two hundred-plus mile train ride, she'd reached out to build a surrogate family, largely in the form of her co-workers. Much like her career, that hadn't been without its hiccups, but now, over seven months into her job, she was comfortable living in the city. Much like any family, she got on better with some of her brothers and sisters in blue than others, but she cared for all of them and knew that, when push came to shove, they'd have her back.

For all that though, this was the first time since she'd returned from Bunnyburrow that she felt truly _safe_. It was almost a throwback to her kithood: that ultimately reassuring knowledge that no matter what happened, she had a home to run back to and parents who'd look after her. **If** she needed it, of course. Despite the horrible scene this morning, despite the questions, the doubts, and the guilt still swirling around her head, Nadine was so obviously looking out for her that she couldn't help but be comforted.

Though she may have chosen a foster family, this was the first time it was really being put to the test. She'd needed help with things in the past, of course, but nothing had ever hit her quite like this. The gruesome corpse - and that it was a rabbit that was just a few easy changes of appearance and choices away from herself - would have been bad enough. That she then found herself suddenly questioning everything had been quite a blow and the relief she felt when Nadine described her own experiences was incredible. All her suddenly manifested doubts and fears about being good enough for the job, about other cops thinking less of her for her reaction - it all fell away as her partner comforted her.

Nadine wasn't just her partner and friend any more, she realised. The big cat was some strange combination of parent, older sister, and littermate now, somehow managing to sooth something that Judy hadn't even realised had been ruffled. It was all she could do to not snuggle into her big - very big - sister right then. And then it was all she could do not to giggle as the image of Nadine being adopted by her parents flashed in her head. Completely unaware of the gymnastics going on in her mind, Nadine spoke up then, her voice unusually cold and serious, as she responded to Judy's plea.

"I go hunting."

Three words, three simple little words. Their tone, and the toothy maw of the mammal delivering them, should have inspired a thrill of fear. She knew that, in the same kind of detached way that she knew steel had been first discovered thousands of years ago. Instead they made her feel protected. She was no princess, no helpless damsel that needed to be rescued or that needed help to do _anything_ ; she didn't _need_ to be protected. But it still felt good knowing that there was someone who could and would watch out for her.

Nadine looked at her, deadly serious. "I take all that pain and uncertainty and mash it into determination. It sucks, more than any other part of life, when I have to deal with a body. But I can't change it once it's happened. So I take all that, everything I might use to beat myself up about something I can't affect, and I go hunting. It becomes my motivation, my incentive. I can't change the past but I can use it to make sure that whoever's responsible pays."

Nadine's voice had grown warmer as she spoke, rapidly heating to the point of simmering rage. Anger, especially in such a large predator, that should have frightened her. _But it's like James' anger,_ she realised, recalling how furious her littermate had been after her altercation with Gideon. _My big sister's angry that someone got hurt and wants to make it right._ James had wanted to gather up a few litters of siblings and get back at Gideon for what he'd done to her before she'd managed to talk him out of it, claiming it was her fight. Now though, older and wiser, she kind of enjoyed the idea of Nadine helping her.

A low, threatening growl slipped into the tigress's voice as she continued. "I watch and I listen. I stalk my prey, herd them into an ambush. Then I pounce. I pin them down and make damn sure they never get away." Her paws flexed as she finished, claws emerging briefly as if to punctuate her words.

Nadine blinked in surprise as she gave in and did snuggle into her chest. "Thank you," Judy whispered as her sister's growl died away.

"Err, Judy," she said hesitantly. "Um, don't that this the wrong way, but _really_?"

Pulling back so she could look the confused tigress in the eye again she nodded. "Yes, Nadine, really. Thank you. I'm glad you told me."

She frowned, clearly off-balance. "Look, I'm not complaining or anything, but even Bogo was a little, ah..." she trailed off and Judy smirked, detecting the trace of embarrassment in her tone.

"I'm not scared, Nadine. I'm _glad_ to know you care so much. And as for being a little bit growly..." She had to fight down a snicker as Nadine raised an eyebrow, unamused. "Well, my littermate was kind of the same when he got protective." Nadine's eyebrow lifted further and she couldn't hold back the snicker any more.

The tigress shook her head at her antics. "I just... I was kind of worried the truth would frighten you," she admitted. "I figured a normal rabbit would probably not take a growling, angry tigress to the face very well."

Judy looked her in the eye then, wanting to make sure she was believed. "One: I'm not exactly a normal rabbit. Two: I was being serious when I compared you to my brother. The ZPD is kind of a surrogate family for me and all of this is just sort of cementing you as a protective big sister." Nadine blinked at her, apparently lost for words. "Don't get me wrong," Judy hurriedly added. "I still look up to you and respect you as an officer and everything, but all this-" she gestured around aimlessly, paws flailing at nothing in particular. "It's all... Just... Reassuring, I guess. Knowing that I'm not crazy, or a bad officer; that this kind of thing even gets to you and that you can deal with it."

Nadine's jaw worked for a few moments before she was finally able to speak. "Thank you, Judy," she said softly. "I- I'm not used to prey being comfortable around me with no filter."

Judy smiled up at her. It was watery, true, but that wasn't from fear or discomfort.

"And I know how important family is for you. I... Do you really consider me a sister?"

Judy nodded solemnly. "I do," she said without hesitation.

"I- _Thank you_ , Judy."

There was a moment of silence then as they smiled at each other, both mammals reassuring and reassured by the other.

"Right then," Nadine said after a minute. "Chief gave us today off and - don't look at me like that," she interrupted herself. "You know damn well you're not at a hundred percent right now, lack of rest notwithstanding." Judy harrumphed and crossed her arms, a hint of pout forcing its way on to her muzzle. "It should be longer-" she flat-out rolled her eyes at that one. "-but this is what we've got. So how about we nap for a couple of hours, then we'll get some takeaway and do a movie marathon so we don't mess up our sleep schedules any further?"

"I- Fine," she huffed. "Since Bogo's already given us the time off, I _suppose_ that works."

Nadine smirked down at her. "Come on, Judy, listen to your big sister."

Judy lightly punched her partner's arm. "Sibling rivalry doesn't work like that, silly," she countered with a grin of her own. She hopped off the sofa and made for the bathroom once more. "But I expect you to be doing your best impression of a gigantic fuzzy pillow when I get back."

Nadine grinned at her tone, all official and authoritative - and strangely effective for such a small mammal too. "Yes ma'am, Officer Hopps," she chortled.

Having set an alarm, she lay back on the sofa, luxuriously stretching out over the entire length, looking forward to being able to sleep comfortably once again. Drifting off almost immediately, she barely noticed Judy coming back. Until, that is, she jumped up onto her belly and proceeded to nuzzle and burrow her way under the arm that lay draped across her chest. Unable to muster the energy to protest, Nadine just went with it as her indomitable little sister made herself comfortable. She drifted off with a happy chuff as she realised that Judy had meant exactly what she'd said about being a pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah... So this happened. I'm not quite sure if I got it right but I think it does what it was supposed to. My main concern is Judy seeming out of character. I find 'write what you know' to be generally sensible and I've never been particularly emotional _or_ had to deal with a dead body but I hope this worked: Judy is our adorable little emotional fuzzball and I don't think she'd take an obviously murdered young doe very well.
> 
> I hope I got the description of the body right too. I'm certainly not planning on making this a gore-fest - in _any_ way - but I wanted to capture some of the horror and despair that I see pouring into the innocent country bunny at the scene and I _think_ this was the right way to do it. If it was too much, well, sorry, I guess. But like Judy said: real life is messy; and unfortunately law enforcement are exposed to a lot of unpleasant things.
> 
> Just to head off a couple of questions I suspect might come out in the comments otherwise:
> 
>   1. No, this isn't the end of the discussion and Judy is not suddenly okay. To quote the chapter itself: "despite the questions, the doubts, and the guilt still swirling around her head". This is just the start of that journey for her - she's only just got to the point of accepting that her 'family' isn't going to think less of her or blame her.
>   2. Yes, Nadine trusts Judy as her partner and friend before this. We've had the whole thing about respect and so on already but it's one thing to trust a friend you've only known for a few months with your public persona and quite another to not hold anything back at all. Especially in a case like this where the mammal behind the mask is an eight-foot-plus, 120kg predator that really isn't very keen on the idea of upsetting her two-foot, 20kga _bunny_ friend right now.
> 

> 
> a. These are rough/provisional figures that will be updated when I have the chance to sit down and properly work out everyones sizes and weights. We all know how little real information there is to go off of - just about the only thing we have is Nick's application form and I'm pretty sure he was rounding the numbers there, just like when he bragged about his income. NB: anybody else notice how inconsistent the film is, by the way? Sometimes Judy's head barely reaches Nick's armpits but at the end her arms are barely past horizontal to pin his badge on...


	15. Chapter 13: Playing and Plotting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wow. So this one took a while. Work went a little nuts just before Christmas, then the whole holiday season disrupted things further - it's actually kinda difficult to write when you're skiing all day and your computer, with all your notes, is in another country. You can also blame Jack_Kellar for feeding a plot bunny ( _never_ do that, by the way, unless you want a severe infestation of the fluffballs) which turned into this little one-shot, canon to this storyline: Sorry (works/13364031).
> 
> In any case, I'm back, and plan to stay that way, so let's get on with the show!

Despite his body's best effort to force him up early _just in case_ that damn polar bear was nearby, Nick managed to, for the first time in _months_ , have a lie-in. And it was _glorious_! The sun was already high in the sky when he was finally forced from bed by a full bladder. He spent several minutes trying to scrounge together something vaguely resembling a late breakfast but was stymied when he was unable to find even a can of tuna. He briefly considered just going back to bed before his stomach stepped up its grumbling.

_Eeeuugh. I guess I_ am _gonna see the sun today._

It wasn't that he was a particularly lazy mammal - regularly working hustles to pay for everything from lunch to an emergency fund and now all but working his tail off at the academy was proof of that, at least - but he'd only gotten back to the city yesterday and had crashed, fairly spectacularly, as soon as he got home. His exhaustion, coupled with his desire to walk Judy to work, had meant his rough plan had been to sleep until around nine PM (with quick breaks as necessary for food and the bathroom) and wing it from there until he got to Judy's place and she left for work. And then wing it from there. Now though, he'd have to suffer through daylight for food.

Grumbling continuously to himself at the change in plans, at the prospect of a cold shower, at the ZPA instructors, and at the universe in general, he slunk back into his - admittedly rather generously titled - bedroom to look for clothes.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nick was starting to get worried. He'd texted Judy earlier, informing her of his plan to walk her to work but had received no response - fair enough, she was probably asleep at the time. But it was now only one minute to ten. It would take an hour to get to Precinct One from here so unless Judy was about to come hurtling out of her building's shabby front door, she was going to be late. Maybe she was going to be picked up? Or maybe she and her partner would be starting their patrol here? Was that even allowed?

A few minutes and two texts later (one a joke about being late and the second a simple 'are you ok?') Nick was past starting and just plain worried. He wasn't pacing anywhere, but his tapping foot was a dead give-away to anyone who knew him well enough (which was nobody). While just about any mammal would spot it, most would ascribe the motion to impatience - just a shifty fox annoyed at having to wait for his _perfectly legitimate_ business contact to arrive. Sighing, he pulled out his phone again, almost dropping it in surprise as it promptly started ringing.

Sliding the jingling contraption back into the middle of his paw, he glanced at the screen even as his thumb moved to accept the call. There were only a pawful of mammals that knew this number and he was more relieved than he wanted to admit that it was Judy's smiling face that filled the screen.

"Hello? Judy?" he asked quickly.

"Heeey, Slick." Her voice was calm and relaxed - almost sleepy in fact. "Sorry for missing your messages - bit of a long story there. I'm over at Nadine's place if you wanna stop by?"

"Are you okay though? You don't have long to get to work."

She chuckled at that, her gentle amusement soothing him beyond words. "I'm okay, Nick. And like I said, long story, but I'm not going to work tonight."

"Really?" Nick was puzzled. It wasn't like he'd memorised her shift pattern or anything, but he had paid attention to when she'd said she'd be busy over the two weeks he had off and he was pretty sure she was supposed to be working today. And if she'd just swapped a shift that wouldn't count as a 'long story', right? And if she was at Fangmeyer's place, did that mean both of them-

His rambling thoughts were cut off by a heart-meltingly adorable squeaky bunny yawn. "Yah, Nick, really," Judy said, sounding like she was about to nod off right then and there. "Look," she began before another yawn interrupted her. "Seriously, come over to Nadine's place and I'll tell you all about it. Plus, my arm's getting tired and if you come over I can put the phone down and nap while you-"

"Hey!" someone else - presumably Fangmeyer - shouted in the background. "No napping!"

"Nadiiiiiiiine!" Judy whined. "You shouldn't have let me eat so much pizza if you didn't want me to nap."

"No! You're never gonna get used to the shift times if you start messing up your sleeping pattern a day and a half in!"

Nick jerked the phone away from his ear at the loud noise that burst from the speaker. It sounded like Judy was blowing a very loud raspberry. "Wait!" he blurted, trying desperately to keep a handle on what little sanity remained in the conversation. "Is Fangmeyer even okay with me coming over?"

"Hmm?" Judy cooed. "Oh, yeah, she's fine with it. I already asked. Now hurry up! Or I'll fall asleep."

"No sleeping!" the tigress yelled, making him jump.

"Naaaaaaaad!" Judy groaned. "I've eaten like half my weight in pizza. How can I _not_ sleep now?" Before anybody else could get a word in she spoke up again. "I'll text you the address, okay, Slick?"

"I um, yeah, sure. Okay," the bemused fox managed to say.

"Cool, see you soon, Nick!"

He jumped as Judy shrieked into the phone and just stared at it for a moment as it fell silent. A minute later he was still staring at the small screen when it buzzed and lit up. Relieved that the shriek hadn't been something disabling his friend, he started entering the code to unlock his phone when it buzzed again. The first message was an address - much closer to the precinct, he noted - and he set off at once, determined to make sure Judy was all right. Then he scrolled down to check the second message and nearly tripped over his own feet as he saw the photo.

A tigress' face - probably Fangmeyer - with sopping wet fur and drooping, dripping whiskers filled the screen. The cat was obviously pretty miffed and was looking about as intimidating as a bedraggled, paw-sized tigress could. Nick's eyes widened as he read the caption then he shoved the phone in his pocket and began to jog, frantically reviewing his knowledge of the city streets for any kind of short cut.

_Spill water on_ me _, huh? :P I might have gone too far tho... Help?_

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Muffled yelps and giggles met his ears as he arrived at the address Judy had sent him. There was an odd thump from behind the door just as he knocked, then silence, broken a moment later by snickering. He heard a low growl before the door was yanked open and he found himself craning his neck to look up at the tigress's face. She was drier than she'd been in the photo Judy sent him, but still clearly damp. Most of the fur on her face was mussed up to some degree and her whiskers were all off at odd angles. Before he could process more than that he found himself stumbling backwards, clutching a large pillow to his chest.

"You're going to help me deal with that crazy rabbit, got it?" Fangmeyer rumbled.

Nick nodded rapidly, eyes wide and head bobbing so fast that his ears flapped.

Turning and stomping back into her apartment, Fangmeyer gestured for him to follow. He scurried inside and heaved the door closed. Turning back around, he saw the tigress pick up a cushion from the comfy-looking sofa and give it a flick, forcing some of the padding away from the edge she was holding. Understanding dawned and he did the same - less elegantly as the pillow was much too large for him to wield effectively - as she started to speak.

"So, I've got a mad rabbit hiding somewhere in here, probably waiting to ambush one of us. Your nose is probably better than mine so get to work finding her while I stack the deck."

Finding his tongue at last - not to mention a moment in which to speak - he tested the waters with just a little snark. "Are all tigresses this demanding, or is it just you?" He shrank into himself a little at the glare the large predator shot him. "Got it! Shutting up, ma'am! Rabbit hunting mode on." He caught a hint of a suppressed snort at that, coming from further in the apartment. Squaring his shoulders, he began to pad forwards as Fangmeyer began to turn off every light she could.

A few minutes of fruitless searching later, he nearly jumped out of his fur at the near simultaneous _**bang**_ and surprised yowl that emanated from the kitchen. Hefting his pillow, he turned to face his foe... Only to find himself frozen, trying to process the absurd sight before him.

Fangmeyer was stumbling out of the kitchen, her arms all but flailing as she tried to navigate her home blind. The reason for her blindness: Judy lay draped across the top of her muzzle, gripping the tigress's left ear, feet hooked below the right corner of her jaw, her body completely covering Fangmeyer's eyes. The rabbit was giggling madly as she clung on, resisting her host's weak attempts to shake her off.

"Hey, Wilde," Fangmeyer growled, coming to a halt. "A little help here?"

_What in the flying fox tails is going on‽ Judy's not going in to work, pizza binging, and now..._ this _. Whatever this is._

"Wilde!"

He jumped slightly at the shout, snapping out of his thoughts. "Uh, right, yeah, sorry. What?"

"Get this damn rabbit off me!" Fangmeyer was nearly pleading now. Judy's giggling had subsided but now she let out what could best be described only as a cackle.

"Uhh..." Nick was thinking desperately, trying to regain his equilibrium. "Um, wait! Is she covered in glue or something? I don't want her stuck to me instead of you."

Fangmeyer was silent for a moment, then she spoke in an exceptionally calm voice. "Judy?"

"Hmm?" the rabbit responded mirthfully.

"You wanna team up to get the fox?"

Nick's eyes widened at that. _Lesson learned: do_ not _annoy the scary tigress! Also:_ help _!_

Judy hummed for a moment before answering. "We could... I mean he might enjoy a swim in your kitchen sink."

Nick's ears plastered themselves back against his head at that and he began creeping towards the door.

"But I'd come back here as soon as we were done anyway," the doe continued, much to his relief. "No way he's a better pillow than you!"

"Hey!" Nick objected. "I can be just as good a pillow as anybody else here. Don't knock it 'till you've tried it."

Fangmeyer turned towards him - uncannily accurate given her continuing inability to see - and Judy's ears shot up, swivelling around to point his way even as she lifted her head off Fangmeyer's muzzle and looked over her shoulder at him. She turned back and looked down at the tigress and Nick had just enough time to realise how badly he'd just messed up.

_Crap._

Then the sofa cushion hit his left arm and shoulder hard enough to make him twist and lose his grip on the pillow. Hearing tiny feet pattering rapidly on the wooden floor, he didn't bother turning back to the females, choosing instead to dive for his lost weapon even as the bunny yelled out a war cry. Rolling sideways as he landed, he managed to get the pillow between himself and the leaping rabbit, angling it so she bounced away from him.

Scrambling to his feet, he was forced to flee around the sofa as Fangmeyer chased him, her slower, louder footsteps much more intimidating than Judy's rapid patter. Emerging around the side of the sofa, he saw Judy back on her feet and charging towards him. Out of options, he leaped onto the arm of the sofa and then, trusting in the element of surprise, jumped again, right for Fangmeyer's face.

The tigress's face was a mask of shock as he reached the top of his arc and swung the pillow as hard as he could. It connected with a tremendously satisfying thump and a muffled 'Oomph!' as he sailed past his opponent. Knowing Judy would be right behind him, he didn't pause to savour the success, running as soon as he landed.

Fangmeyer growled as he slipped around the side of the sofa again and he grinned triumphantly at having escaped her - for now anyway. Then something soft solidly clocked the back of his head and he found himself sliding gracefully along the wooden floor on top of the pillow. Just as he managed to stand once more, he spotted Judy, already in the air and heading towards him. Fangmeyer was coming around the sofa and acting on instinct, he swung at Judy, intending to bat her away and towards the tigress.

To his surprise though, Judy managed to absorb the hit, grabbing the pillow as it struck her and clinging on with impressive strength. He swung the pillow again, trying to shake her off, but only managed to remind himself how much heavier a rabbit was than a pillow. Fangmeyer was pretty much right on top of him then so in desperation, he decided to cut his losses and swung the pillow again. This time though, he deliberately let go, sending a surprised looking grey rabbit sailing right into the tigress's stomach.

Not watching the aftermath of that proved to be a mistake. He'd barely landed back on the sofa when the pillow he'd just been using walloped him, smooshing him against the back of the sofa. He fell to the seat in an graceless tangle of limbs, landing mostly on his chest and face. A moment later something small and heavy landed on his back, driving what little air remained in his lungs out with a huff.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay, I'm calling it," Judy exclaimed. "Nick's tail is the best pillow, then Nadine, then Nick." She smirked at the now rather dishevelled fox. After her surprise live test of his back's pillow-worthiness, she'd slid down on to his tail as he struggled to get up and immediately snuggled into it. The rush of sensation had taken him completely off-guard, sending his limbs sprawling out from underneath him and making him collapse back to the sofa.

Fangmeyer scowled at her. "Well you're both far too small to be at all comfortable, so I'm voting for myself as best pillow." She'd taken the opening Judy had created and laid her head down on both the sofa and his back, her chin supporting enough of the weight of her head so he could breathe. After a moment, Judy had released his tail, realising the danger she was now in. Fangmeyer had moved before she could though, lunging at the bunny and scooping her up while he escaped the sofa. The tigress had promptly claimed the now-vacant spot, laying down and resting her head on the arm of the sofa, Judy's ears and hind paws poking out from either side of her neck.

Though he was apparently safe then, Nick couldn't bring himself to abandon his future partner to her fate as a tigress's plushie and had heroically dived back into the fray. A few seconds of scuffling later and he was practically mirroring Judy's position from earlier: draped across Fangmeyer's muzzle. The problem was that he was bigger, meaning his arms and legs didn't really have anywhere convenient to latch on to. Just as Fangmeyer began to sit up and he'd started to slide off her face, Judy - who'd extricated herself during the struggle - got to one of the tigress's feet and started tickling.

Nadine's startled yelp and subsequent jerk had fully dislodged him and he'd found himself sprawled over her chest as she kicked, vainly trying to shake Judy off. The rabbit though, was displaying the same strength she'd used just moments ago to cling to the pillow as he swung it around, and she seemed firmly attached to the flailing limb. As Fangmeyer writhed and giggled underneath him, Nick had suddenly became _very acutely_ aware of where he was lying, fortunately _before_ he did something like grab on to prevent himself from being thrown off.

Deciding to get some payback for Judy's tail grab a minute ago, he'd rolled off the tigress onto the sofa - not that there was much space between her and the edge - and reached for the rabbit. Judy had gone stiff with a startled "Meep!" as one of his thumbs brushed through the tip of her wiggling tail and then she'd had a single instant to take in her situation before he was tickling her. Given their size difference, his paws were able to cover most of her back and sides so it had been easy to find a sensitive spot. Once she was gasping for breath, he'd let up and pulled away, allowing her to flop over onto her back, panting. He'd grinned and, going for broke, deliberately collapsed next to her, carefully angling his fall so that his pointed muzzle came to rest diagonally across her body.

He'd kept her pinned for a moment then allowed her to wiggle out from under his face. They'd all stayed like that for a minute, lying all but motionless on the sofa and trying to recover before Judy had broken the silence. Deciding to chip in, Nick spoke up as Judy hopped down from the sofa. "I gotta say, Judy gets my vote, for pure plushy cuddliness. If I had a pillow that felt anything like you, Carrots, I don't think I'd ever get out of bed!"

"Nick!" she exclaimed, ears abruptly pressed down against her back as she walked towards the kitchen.

"Second place has to go to my tail," he continued smugly, ignoring her protest. "I know it's good because I have actually used it as a pillow before. Which means our gracious hostess," he gestured flamboyantly towards Fangmeyer, who was now sitting up, "comes in a very respectable third place."

Judy jumped up onto the worktop next to the sink and grabbed a glass from the drying rack. Nick nearly did a double-take at that - since when did tigers have bunny-sized glasses lying around? Filling it with water, she gulped it down, her ears still down but no longer being pressed back. "Hmm," she began pensively. "So that makes it one vote each for Nick's tail, Nadine, and me for the top spot." She grinned at the fox, the expression growing in smugness as his own was leached away. "Guess that means you're such an amazing pillow after all, Slick."

"Are you _really_ going to count my tail as separate from me?" he managed to ask through his incredulity.

"You did," Fangmeyer pointed out.

He shot her a quick glare as he scrambled to find a way out of this ridiculous situation. _Second place votes? Tigress and my tail, so that doesn't help me. Third? Me and Fang._ He blinked. _Wait, I only got_ one _third-place vote?_

Realising a workable solution, he pointed out, "Well, if I count my tail as part of me, then I've got a vote each for first, second, and third place. Fangmeyer's got a second and a third, and Judy's only got one first-place."

"Hey," the tigress growled. "Two things: one, I voted for myself in first place too, so even counting your tail, you don't beat me. Two, enough with the surnames. I rescued you from the killer bunny, remember? Plus, if you're a friend of Judy's - never mind if you end up working at Precinct One - I get the feeling we'll be hanging out quite a lot." She stuck out one large paw. "Nadine."

Slightly bemused - though hiding that behind his trademark sly grin - Nick took the offered paw. "Nick." _Um, did I just make another friend? Is that how this works? She barely knows me!_

"Ya see, Nick? Even counting your tail's votes for you - which we aren't - you still only tie with Nadine." Judy's voice was full of glee at being able to point that out, something he knew he'd have to address.

"I seem to recall saying 'I could be _just as good_ as anybody else'," he pointed out. "A tie counts in my book!"

Judy snorted as she left the kitchen and walked down the short hall on the other side of the main room. "Only if we count your tail!" she shot over her shoulder. "Without that, both of us beat you because we both had a first-place vote!" She pushed through a door and it clicked shut behind her.

Turning his attention back to the tigress on the sofa, he cocked his head and raised an eyebrow, gesturing around at the room.

Fang- _Nadine_ nodded, understanding his unspoken question. "We had a... rough end to our last shift," she explained quietly. "Judy's first body." Nick winced at that, not looking forward to seeing the unpleasantly lifelike dummies used for training, never mind the real thing. Nadine nodded. "She took it quite badly and Bogo gave us a day off to help her get over it. I wanted more but... Well, holiday season."

Nick nodded his understanding, very familiar with the typical increase in crime around the celebrations and festivities. Everything from chocolates and pastries being stolen from supermarkets to gangs fighting with legitimately purchased fireworks and just about everything in between. "So how does a day off turn into this?"

Nadine shrugged. "Judy's... rebounding a little harder than I expected," she admitted. "I need to keep her awake until tomorrow morning or she's never gonna be awake for our next shift. I also want to keep her busy so she doesn't have any time or energy to think about what she saw this morning." She paused as the sound of a flushing toilet emerged from the hall Judy had taken. "The plan was takeaway and a movie marathon, but then this happened," she explained quickly. "You game to help?"

Nick nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I'll do what I can."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Having played against him before, Judy vetoed poker. He was able to get her to agree to a best of five game of cheat though. They'd been so focused on trying to outsmart each other though, that Nadine had walked away with the first win. He'd pulled in the second game without too much trouble but then that sneaky bunny had deliberately played badly in the third, sucking him in as he scented weakness, only to have Nadine take the victory.

Well into the fourth game, Judy was now staring at him, large-eyed and a kitishly overplayed expression of innocence on her face. Could he call her on it? Fangmeyer had picked up a hefty batch of cards just a few turns ago - hefty enough that he'd lost track of exactly what was in there. He was fairly sure there should have been at least two fives in the tigress's paw right now though and Judy had just claimed to play another. With the single five he was holding on to though, he didn't have enough information to be sure.

Early in the game he wouldn't have been so cautious. But he was down to three cards, Judy was now on two, and there were eight in the middle which he'd have to pick up if he accused her of lying and got it wrong. Coming to a decision, he pulled his eyes away from Judy's face, selected a card and placed it down in the middle of the table. "Aaand another five," he said smoothly.

Fangmeyer grinned, making sure to show plenty of teeth. "I'll make that _another_ two fives," she said smugly, laying the cards down.

Judy's faux-innocent expression melted into pure smugness as, without hesitation, she placed her last two cards down on the table. "And that's the last two fours!"

_That makes five 'fours' down there,_ he mused, trying to see through the rabbit's grin. _Someone is lying, but would Judy make a risky move like that with her last two cards?_ He couldn't tell - she was impulsive enough that she might try something crazy at the end to win, but she should also know him well enough to know he'd suspect that... She'd win if neither of them correctly called her a cheat, but if he did and he got it wrong, Nadine had enough cards to see through just about anything he might try.

Even watching her as closely as he was, he nearly missed it: a tiny twitch of her left ear. She was doing a reasonable job of concealing obvious tells, which were mostly from her ears. They'd been kept up and twitching around in near-random motions constantly. But. But, they'd been rotating, twisting, perking and relaxing. This was different. A slight pull at the base of the ear that made the whole thing move backwards slightly before the motion was lost in the noise of her other movements.

Allowing a grin of his own to spread across his muzzle, he made his decision. "Cheat!"

Judy froze, then smiled sweetly at him. She reached over and flipped over the first card. Nick felt his heart stop for a moment as a four was revealed. Then Judy turned over the second card to reveal a three. "Damn it, Nick!" she yelled, her expression turning sour as she punched his arm in frustration. He swayed back and threw a paw over his face with a dramatic cry while Judy gathered up the cards.

Giving her a moment to sort through them also allowed him to consider his own strategy. He was holding a Jack and a seven, cards too far apart to both be honestly played in a single round with only three players. Judy probably had at least one six in her paw right now but Nadine most likely held all four eights - none could have been played honestly in the previous sequence and the tigress held enough cards to not need to bluff for a while yet. Similarly, Nadine held at least two Jacks, assuming she'd been relatively honest, and Judy probably had a Queen. The Kings were split between them, with Judy probably only holding one, and the tens were likely all in Nadine's paw.

Internally grimacing at the lack of options he found himself with, Nick played his seven, calling out "Jack" as he did.

Nadine inspected him over the top of her cards for a long moment. "Two Queens," she claimed.

Judy, who, he'd noted, had watched the exchange carefully, grinned as she laid a single card down. "A King."

_Crap._

Out of options, Nick did the only thing he could. The words "A Queen" had barely left his mouth before he was being accused by the tigress to his left. With a groan, he flipped the card over, revealing it as a Jack. He picked up the thankfully small number of cards and inspected them. To his surprise, Nadine immediately went again, claiming to lay down a two. It wasn't against the rules to go immediately, but players were usually allowed a few moments to sort through their newly acquired cards first.

Judy responded with two Aces, which gave him pause. Instead of the King he'd expected to receive, he was holding an Ace himself. There _shouldn't_ have been three Aces in her paw if the last few rounds had been honest - though that was an admittedly futile hope as he was holding evidence of dishonesty in his own paws. Deciding to play it safe for now, he laid a card down. "Ace."

Nadine grinned at him, oozing feline confidence. "Two Aces," she said slowly, placing the cards down.

When nobody accused the tigress of cheating, Judy laid a single card down. "One Ace," she said, then broke into giggles at the exasperated look on Nick's face.

"Damn it, Carrots," he grumbled. "Two twos," he offered.

"Cheat!" the rabbit shouted gleefully.

Nick sighed and reached for the cards.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When they finally finished over an hour later, the score stood at two games each to him and Nadine, with one for Judy. She'd won that back-and-forth fourth game before he'd steamrollered the girls in the fifth. None of them felt like a sixth game though, never mind possibly needing a seventh.

"Snacks and a film?" Nadine offered when they were done cleaning up the cards.

"Sure," Judy replied. "What are you thinking?"

"How about The Shawshank Redemption?" the tigress offered.

Nick shrugged. "Works for me," he said nonchalantly. "But to be honest I don't really mind. As long as it's not a rom-com I'll probably agree to whatever you two want to watch." He was uncomfortably aware of the look Judy was giving him. _How the_ hell _does she see through me like that‽_

"Okay then, Shawshank Redemption it is," Judy said after a moment. She turned to Nadine. "What about snacks?"

"Pretty sure I've got a bottle or two of something fizzy in a cupboard somewhere," the tigress explained as she walked into the kitchen. "And there's definitely some popcorn..." She trailed off as she pulled a cupboard open and stuck her head inside.

Judy turned to Nick, eyeing him intently. "You've not seen this before, have you, Nick? You're curious."

He shifted for a moment, wondering how honest he could be here. In the end though, he decided that he should probably answer her exact question with complete honesty - any attempt to deflect would probably backfire spectacularly. "Okay, fine, I haven't," he confessed. "There are a lot of films out there, Carrots. Just so happens you two found one I've not seen before."

She didn't say anything, just watched him as he fought not to squirm under her scrutiny.

A minute later he was saved as Nadine came back in and placed a tiger-sized bowl of popcorn on the coffee table, along with some glasses and a large green bottle. She crossed the room to a small unit next to the TV and pulled a drawer open. "Hey, can you two move the table closer to the sofa?" she asked as she reached into the drawer.

"Right!" Nick exclaimed. "Come on, Carrots!" She rolled her eyes at him but nonetheless slid down off the sofa and helped him move the coffee table while Nadine got the film ready to go.

"Any preferences for seating arrangements?" she asked. "I'm not too fussed as long as everyone can reach the popcorn."

Before he could say anything, Judy exclaimed, "I claim middle!" She grinned at him. "That way, no matter who has to go to the bathroom I've got a decent pillow."

Nick dropped his head forwards, letting his chin hit the top of his chest. _The things I do for this rabbit..._

As it turned out, he was right to be nervous. Judy was as good as her word, using the two larger mammals as pillows. Nadine had decided to lay down, curled into an elongated 'c' shape, her head just past the middle of the sofa and her right leg hanging off the edge. Nick was sure that couldn't possibly be comfortable, but it wasn't the weirdest position he'd ever seen a feline 'relax' in so he let it go. The tigress's head formed a barrier to Judy's left, trapping her near him.

To his chagrin, the bunny had grabbed his tail as soon as he sat down, pulling it out and around behind herself before laying back and squirming her way into a comfortable position. Nick - much to his own surprise - hadn't protested at her actions, despite the relatively personal nature of fox tails. He knew that just a few months ago he'd never have dreamed of allowing another mammal to treat his tail like that. He couldn't bring himself to upset Judy though. Especially given the reason for all this. If using his tail as a pillow helped relax her then he'd let her use it as a pillow.

The trouble was, that energetic little ball of fluff wouldn't hold still. If she'd just laid there, resting against his tail, he was sure he'd have been able to take it without any trouble. She insisted on moving around more than he thought should be possible though. Leaning forwards to grab a pawful of popcorn then flopping back; twisting to whisper something into Nadine's ear; shifting around to make herself comfortable. He endured it all without protest, despite the sensations driving tingling pulses up his spine, distracting him from the film - something about a pine marten in prison for killing his own wife, he thought.

Unfortunately, Judy's actions were stuck in a feedback loop: as she moved around and he fought to control his reactions, he couldn't stop the fur on his tail puffing out a little more with each motion. The extra fluffiness only encouraged her to wiggle around more, searching for that ever-elusive perfectly comfortable spot. The increased motion then made it harder to fight the shivers - and other physiological reactions - even as his tail puffed further.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the time six AM rolled around, they were all exhausted. Resigning himself to trekking back across town while half-asleep, Nick stood with a yawn. "Well, I guess I should be leaving you ladies to your beauty sleep," he said lethargically.

"Are you gonna be okay, Nick?" Judy asked through a yawn that seemed far too big for a bunny.

"Yeah, I'll... I'm good," he replied, stifling another yawn of his own. It was getting hard to keep his eyes open. "Are you heading back to your place for the day? I can walk you back if you want."

"No," Nadine said firmly. "You're staying here, Judy."

The rabbit looked at her blearily, then shrugged, clearly too tired to argue. "Fine, I'll stay here." She nudged the tigress. "Now shoo, I'm going to sleep right now. Just toss a blanket over me or something."

Nadine rolled her eyes the scooped up the bundle of grey fluff. "Come on, Judy," she said over the doe's surprised squeak.

"Wha...?"

"I'm not leaving you on the sofa when there's a perfectly good bed just over here." She paused and looked down at the rabbit she was holding. "Unless you have a problem sharing with me?"

Judy looked at her for a moment. "Um, not really, I guess. Oh whatever." She snuggled into the tigress's chest. "Don't care any more. As long as I can sleep it's fine."

Nadine looked at her for a moment with a small smile then turned to Nick. "Wait here a moment, okay?"

He nodded and watched as she disappeared into the bedroom. With a grunt, he began to clear up some of the mess around the coffee table, chucking everything into the long-empty popcorn bowl before hauling that back onto the table. Satisfied, he began to look around for his shoes. There was a thump behind him and he turned to see Nadine had dropped a large blanket onto the sofa.

"You look pretty tired, Nick," she said surprisingly gently. "You can stay on the sofa if you want."

He hesitated. "Are you sure? I can make it home." In his experience, nothing good like that kind of offer ever came for free. There'd be a price to pay, he knew it, and he wasn't sure he wanted to.

Nadine nodded. "I don't mind," she said with a yawn. She shook her head before continuing. "There's plenty of space and you shouldn't drive when you're this tired."

He paused again, pondering whether he should explain that he'd be walking. The sofa was tempting though. It was probably more comfortable than his makeshift bed. It was also closer. Exhaustion warred with uncertainty in his head for a moment longer. He looked up at Nadine, trying to decide if he was willing to pay her price. Maybe he was just tired, but there didn't seem to be anything she was hiding. Was this a genuine, no-strings-attached offer?

Unable to decide, he - very uncharacteristically - simply asked. "What'll I owe you?"

Nadine frowned at him, apparently confused. "Owe me?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "I get to use your sofa for a night, and you get...?"

"Oh, right," Nadine said after a moment. "You think we're making some kind of deal here?"

"Uh, well, yeah..."

She shook her head. "Aren't we f-" She cut herself off with a wave of her paw. "Oh whatever, I'm too tired for this. Fine, you wanna make this a deal? How about this: you get the sofa for the night and I get not having to worry about you crashing or getting run over or something silly tonight? Plus I get to make sure Judy doesn't have to visit you in hospital."

Nick could only blink at her in astonishment. "Um, really? That's the deal?"

The tigress nodded. "Yah, that's the deal. Now are you gonna stay or not?"

"Sure," he said shakily. "I'll stay." _I have no idea what's going on!_

"Cool," she replied with a sigh. "See ya in the evening, Nick." Turning away, she headed back to the bedroom, leaving a stunned fox in her living room.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_No! The fox can't be here yet! The others aren't ready... What am I supposed to do‽_

The mammal was trembling as they watched the entrance to Precinct One through a set of powerful binoculars. Despite the sacrifice being laid out as the goddess demanded, the demon rabbit was back, apparently undeterred. And worse, the sacrifice had apparently drawn the wretched fox from his den too! It was too early. Too early. The great work was being threatened. That could not be allowed.

Taking a shaky breath as the doors swung shut behind the mismatched trio as they walked into the large building, the mammal gripped the binoculars until the casing groaned in protest. Focusing on what had been seen was difficult through the panic, but fortunately not impossible.

_He's not in uniform!_

The fox might not be here for long... If he left again, there would be time to prepare, time to finish. Nodding, the mammal calmed, knowing the truth of the conclusion. Yes, there was time. Less than was ideal, but there was time.

_I must pray. **She** must know._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About time we had some decent fluff, don't 'cha think? Poor Judy's been through the wringer a bit so far and I felt this was needed, surprisingly difficult though it was to write. Comments, questions, and criticisms welcome! Feeding plot bunnies may be bad for my overall productivity, but feeding this story with comments is most certainly encouraged!
> 
> Life should be settling down again now for a while at least. I'm going to endeavour to get back to my previous, more or less fortnightly update schedule. Thanks for your patience and I'm sorry for leaving you all hanging for so long.


	16. Chapter 14: To Soar Among the Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh. I know, it's been more than two weeks. I'm sorry.
> 
> Two things delayed this: one, I got distracted; two, the damn thing ended up nearly 50% longer than planned.
> 
> The distraction was actually two-pronged too. Firstly, long story short, a friend had a 'cool business idea' that included writing his own cryptographic functions. The first rule of cryptography is that you _never, **ever** , under **any** circumstances write your own_. He tried to break that rule. It did not go well.
> 
> He told me about it and in less than a week of casual evenings poking it, _with zero prior experience of this kind of thing_ , I broke his 'uncrackable' code. This really should be considered a public service - seriously, how would you like it if you'd bought something from him and then less than two hours later your credit card details were being posted all over the internet?
> 
> The second distraction was the return of Zanrok. If you don't know who that is, go check out his stuff right now. It's cackle-inducingly hilarious - typos aside - and there's _plenty_ of it.

Bouncing into the precinct with somewhat less than her usual energy that night, Judy was surprised to see Chief Bogo waiting in the lobby. He usually started his day earlier than the morning shift and left before the night shift got in. Seeing him standing by the front desk at quarter to eleven at night - and in civvies, no less - nearly made her miss a step as her ears involuntarily shot up. Suddenly extremely self-conscious of both her breakdown two mornings ago and her rather rumpled uniform, she looked down for a moment, taking a breath to steady herself. "Evening, sir," she said quietly and as evenly as she could.

The giant buffalo looked down at her and gave a soft snort. "Hopps." Looking up to Nadine, now standing behind her, he offered a grunt and a curt, "Wait here." Then he was looking at Judy again and tipping his head towards the hall that led to the interview rooms.

Nodding her understanding, Judy followed her boss away from her friends, curious and a little worried. Was she in trouble? She'd never seen Bogo scold anyone in private though...

Opening the door of the first room, Bogo gestured for her to enter, pulling the door closed behind himself once they were both inside. He waited a moment then, when she didn't move, stepped past - well, over - her with a huff and planted himself in the large chair to one side of the table.

Nose twitching rapidly in puzzlement, Judy managed to unfreeze herself and started towards the table. Though it was taller than she was, it was still a relatively easy jump for her to reach the top. The top, where a rabbit-sized chair waited for her. She sat down uncertainly as Bogo leaned forward, planting his elbows on his knees and resting his chin on his hooves. He scrutinised her carefully for a moment before speaking.

"How are you doing, Judy?"

She blinked. Had he just used her first name? "I ah, um... Sir?"

He sighed heavily, considerately angling his head so the blast of air wasn't directed at her. "There are more than a few _unpleasant_ things in the world," he said softly, looking her in the eye once more. "As cops, we have to deal with a lot of it. Now I'm asking, and not just as your boss, how you're handling it."

_Whaaaaa...‽_

It took her a moment to find her voice. "Um, I... Good? I guess? As well as I can? I don't really know... I- I can't really compare it to anything..." she trailed off with a shrug.

Bogo nodded in understanding. "Did you sleep today?"

"Yeah," she said, still off-balance. "Nick and Nadine helped keep me awake last night and I was too exhausted to think about... about _it_ when I fell asleep."

"That's good." He paused, considering her. "It's not mandatory, but if you need any more help, the precinct counsellor has helped officers through this kind of thing before." Judy thought she caught something in his eye for a moment before he shrugged and continued. "I also want you to watch out. There may be nothing to it, but I do _not_ like the fact that it was a young doe, relatively near to where you live."

A shiver ran down Judy's spine at his words but she dismissed them before she could begin to dwell on the situation again. "Yes, sir," she replied a little stiffly. "I assume Nadine and I won't be investigating this?"

Bogo slowly shook his great head. "No. You did a good job with the Missing Mammals case, and a better one with the rest of that conspiracy, but you're not a detective, Hopps. Even if you were, I'd hesitate at putting you on this one."

Biting back a snarky jab, she took a deep breath. "I _want_ to help, sir. I want to know _why_ that poor doe was attacked. I want to help catch whoever did it." _Do you think the Mayor asked what I wanted when he assigned you to me? Life isn't some cartoon musical where you sing a little song and your insipid dreams magically come true!_ She flinched at the memory, unexpectedly clear, slumping forward in the chair and looking down at the scuffed surface of the table. Knowing what was coming somehow only made it worse.

"Hopps."

She couldn't help it: her ears flicked straight up at the chief's tone. Risking a glance upwards, she found that although Bogo's face was still stern, it was laced with slender threads of... Compassion?

"Do you want to know how you can help the most?"

Uncertain, she nodded slowly, trying to process what was happening.

"I need you," Bogo began slowly, " _to do your job_. We're all in this together, Judy, every single mammal in blue. We're _one team_ and it's us against them. Everything matters; it all adds up." Judy shifted uncomfortably under his intense gaze. "Parking tickets, gang violence, domestic incidents, speeding tickets, drugs. Do you know how _each and every one_ of those things is relevant to this and every other murder case?"

She shook her head, not trusting her own voice just then.

"We only have so many detectives, Judy. Every time you and the other patrol officers break up a fight, respond to a panicked call, or arrest a drug dealer, it means less additional work for those detectives. When you pull someone over and give them a ticket for doing fifty in a twenty zone, you're not just saving the life of the mammal that might have been run down minutes later. You're saving the driver from ruining their own life and prison. You're also preventing the need for detectives to be assigned to investigate a hit and run.

"As for the parking tickets? How do you think we pay the detectives' wages? This whole team works together, Hopps. If you want to help catch whoever did this, if you want to help with every other open case, I need you to do one thing." He paused, making sure he had her undivided attention. "I need you, _Judy_ , to do _your_ job. Everybody on the team has to do _their part_ for the team to work properly."

Judy sniffed, fighting her watery eyes, and nodded stiffly, her throat too tight to speak.

Bogo's face hardened again, the filaments of emotion vanishing behind his customary stoicism. "Now, I know I don't need to ask if you're on-board, Hopps."

She shook her head with another sniff, blinking furiously to clear her eyes.

"So get out there and make the world a better place."

Freezing stone-still for an instant, Judy could only stare wide-eyed at her boss. Then she shot to her feet, her right paw snapping up into a perfect, crisp salute. "Yes, sir!"

Bogo nodded then stood and made his way to the door. Extending a hoof to open it, he paused and turned to look down at her.

"This doesn't leave the room," he said gruffly.

She nodded earnestly before following the chief out of the interview room.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fangmeyer's sharp gaze was a little disconcerting, even to the Chief of ZPD Precinct One.

 _She's been stand-offish and keeping me under a microscope ever since Hopps resigned,_ Mason thought to himself. _I wonder what it'll take to earn back her trust?_

"Fangmeyer," he grunted, "you and Hopps take the front desk tonight. As long as the two of you don't mess up, you'll be here tomorrow night as well." She nodded sharply, not bothering to salute. _I hope that's just because I'm not in uniform..._ "You'll both have plenty to do to bring her up to speed," he added, hoping the tigress would get the message.

It was subtle, but he caught it: a slight relaxation of the hard set of her face. Years of practise enabled him to hold back the faint hint of cheer that threatened to tweak the corners of his mouth at her reaction to his gesture. "Alright, get to work," he said gruffly, allowing his head to tip forward slightly in a minuscule nod.

He turned to leave, blotting out the chatter of his officers as he tried to switch off. Whenever he left the building thinking about anything work-related, even something as mundane as shift scheduling, he'd find himself mulling it over for hours afterwards. Letting out a practically silent sigh of relief as he succeeded just before reaching the door, he began to think ahead to home. His home, where his wife waited - she'd be up until he got back, he knew - and a comfortable bed was calling him.

Then Hopps laughed, the high, clear sound swooping in to the compartment of the revolving door a bare moment before it would have sealed him away from her merriment. Just like that, though, the laugh had his mind snapping back to work, specifically his smallest officer and her partner. He remembered how incredibly fragile and utterly miserable she'd looked when he demanded her badge, how heartbroken she'd been when she resigned, and how _small_ she'd looked both times he'd seen her in a hospital bed. Flashes of brighter moments crept in too: the radiant joy on her face when he offered her job back, the enthusiasm she brought to his bullpen, her energy and drive to 'make the world a better place'.

 _You know_ exactly _what it'll take to earn Fangmeyer's trust again._ He couldn't keep ignoring the truth - or worse, lie to himself - no matter how uncomfortable it was. Every mammal had their opinions, beliefs, prejudices, and other baggage. Many were harmless enough: 'I'm a good mammal,' for example, was probably close enough to truth as to make no matter - though that on its own invited questions about what was 'good enough'.

One of the hardest parts of being a leader was retaining enough personality and independence to make decisions without being a puppet while trying to discard as much of their accompanying baggage as possible. For instance, as Chief, he had a police force to run: decisions on everything from budgets to training programmes had to be made. Accept too much advice from others and he'd be reduced to a figurehead, capable of little more than being manipulated. On the other hoof, ignoring others in order to stamp his authority on the way things were done would quickly lead to discontentment and bad decisions. Swallowing the right amount of his self-belief, pride, and self-confidence - he hadn't made it to his position by being meek and an average cop, after all - was tough, and easy to misjudge.

The simple fact was, he _did_ know exactly what it would take to restore Fangmeyer's trust in him. He knew, and he couldn't do anything about it. _This is the problem with working with the damn agencies,_ he mentally grumbled. _Every single thing is classified and then need-to-know on top of that._ Fangmeyer was sharp and in all honesty he'd be surprised if she hadn't picked up on the fact that Bellweather's night howler op had been put together bloody quickly and on an almost literal shoestring budget - officially anyway.

The investigation, originally purely a Special Branch operation, then a joint venture between them and the Foreign Intelligence Division, was unfortunately still ongoing. And ongoing meant classified. He shuddered slightly at the current state of the task force. _And I used to think the SB lot were a pain to work with._ When the FID had come on board, paranoia - at least, he was pretty sure it was paranoia - had escalated to ridiculous heights. Admittedly, it wasn't his area of expertise and he certainly didn't want a leak to result in the arrest or death of an agent abroad, but surely being unable to tell his own officers that there was an ongoing investigation was going too far. At least the latest reports he'd seen indicated that good progress was being made towards identifying the remaining members of Bellweather's network, though there were still several large missing pieces - mysterious payments, unlabelled hardware deliveries, and the like.

Mason started, realising he was home, having driven the entire way on autopilot. Sighing, he shook his head in an attempt to clear it as he turned the car off and hauled himself out. Letting himself in to his home as quietly as he could, he headed upstairs towards the bedroom.

"Hi, honey," Melissa crooned gently, looking up from the book she was reading.

He smiled tiredly at his wife, too preoccupied to respond properly.

She stood, sliding gracefully out of the bed and crossed the room to him, enfolding him in a gentle embrace. "Whatever it is," she whispered into his ear, "it can wait until tomorrow. Get changed and come to bed," she ordered. "You're going to be grumpy enough in the morning already."

Mason sighed, knowing she was right, and laid his cheek against hers, their horns clacking together at the motion. She hummed and slowly rocked against him, the familiar lullaby soothing his agitated thoughts. He pulled back just enough to capture her mouth in a tender kiss, grateful beyond words that she was there for him.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nadine had been surprised by Bogo's order to take over the front desk for a couple of days, but she couldn't deny that it was probably a good decision. As he'd said, there was plenty for Judy to learn and even once she was familiar with the basics, there was a lot more work involved than most mammals would expect. Whether responding to emergency calls, routine patrols, or active operations, there would be dozens of officers out on the streets at any time and all of them needed centralised control and coordination.

Even on quiet days - or nights - like this, with only one active operation underway, there was plenty to do just to manage patrol routes. Proper route planning meant that, assuming everything ran like clockwork, officers would never get too far apart and wouldn't be stepping on each others' toes. The trouble with reality was that things didn't run like clockwork. A single emergency call which pulled a unit or two away from their route could leave large gaps in patrol coverage. Combine that with needing to pre-emptively move officers around so they'd be close enough to provide backup if necessary and you had a non-stop job moving officers and routes around.

Nick had decided to stick around for a while, ostensibly to observe but in practise it seemed to be more about poking fun at them. She'd already asked him to tone it down a little so that she and Judy could actually get on with their jobs. Eventually he'd wandered over to inspect the display cabinets in the foyer and explore the publicly accessible areas of the precinct.

"Hey, Judy," she prodded quietly.

"Hmm?" The bunny's ears perked attentively in her direction and she looked up from the file she was reading.

She nodded over towards the fox currently doing his best to see through the fogged glass window that, though innocently marked 'Officers Only', actually led to the locker rooms and the precinct gym. "What's up with him?"

Judy glanced over at Nick and facepawed, shaking her head. "He's an overgrown kit?" she offered exasperatedly.

Nadine shook her head. "No, I mean..." She hesitated, uncertain as to whether this was prying. "This morning, when I offered him the sofa, he was... He was acting a little weird about it." The rabbit's expression fell and Nadine winced. She had pried.

"Nick," Judy began slowly, "hasn't had the best time of things in the past. I don't know the whole story," she clarified, "but I suspect that to a lot of his... acquaintances, favours were just about the most valuable thing around."

Nadine looked down for a beat then flicked her gaze back to the fox - who'd moved on to a different door - making sure he was still out of earshot. "That... That actually makes sense." She swallowed, trying to ignore the increasingly downbeat scenarios she was extrapolating from the snippets of information she had. "He's doing okay now though, right?"

"He's doing fine at the academy, that's for sure." Judy half-shrugged listlessly. "Before that? Past that? Honestly, I don't know. I'm gonna make sure he's fine going forwards though, whatever it takes." The quiet determination in her voice was clear as day to Nadine but didn't really make her feel any better.

 _So many unknowns,_ she mused. She would shelve her curiosity though. Nick may be a friend, but he was a new friend to her. If he hadn't opened up about his past and current circumstances to Judy yet then it certainly wasn't her place to push him - or her - on the issue.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Half an hour later, Judy was seriously regretting allowing herself to get so caught in the moment the previous day. It had only been three weeks, after all, since her wrist had been injured in the craziness of the huge pile-up in the Tundra Town-Rainforest District tunnel. While she'd actually gotten lucky and her wrist hadn't been broken after all, even a minor fracture, as it turned out, still hurt like hell. The docs had reckoned three to four weeks to heal fully, though they'd warned her to expect weakness and aches for a while after that. Her wrist had been in a cast for two weeks after the incident and she was still technically limited to desk duty.

Thus, her regret. Ambushing Nadine and having a pillow fight with two predators, both larger than her, had apparently not done her wrist any favours. What had been a mild ache when she woke up earlier tonight had become a noticeable throbbing. Her wrist didn't seem swollen or anything, but it was still painful. Trying not to give anything away, she crossed her arms and huffed, the picture of impatience.

"How much longer do you think they're gonna be?" she asked, more petulantly than she intended.

Nick rolled his eyes. "About a minute less than the last time you asked, Fluff."

"Ugh!" She flopped her head down onto the desk with a muted thump, muttering nonsense phrases too quietly for anyone else in the foyer to make out anything clearly - aside from the occasional 'annoying fox' and the like.

Chuckling, Nick walked over and nudger her shoulder. "Carrots." She ignored him. "Caaaaaaarots." He poked her.

_Nope._

"Fluff." Another poke.

Her traitor ear twitched. She could practically _feel_ his smirk.

"Fluff. Carrots. Judy." Each name accompanied by a poke.

_Why the hell isn't Nadine helping? Partners are supposed to watch out for each other!_

Tuning out the fox's voice entirely, she shifted her head so she could glance over at Nadine. As soon as she saw the phone in her friend's paw all thoughts of foxes and camaraderie flew from her head.

"Naaaaaad!" she yelled, bolting upright and making a lunge for the phone. Nadine grinned broadly, leaning back and lifting her arm so she missed.

"Yes, Judy?" the tigress asked, all too innocent.

"Aaaaahugh," she huffed, throwing her paws up in exasperation. Unfortunately the sudden motion was met with a protest from her wrist, causing another wince.

Nadine huffed. "Gotcha."

She froze, then looked from the tigress, now folding her own arms, to Nick, eyebrow raised with a look that just screamed 'really?'.

"It's gonna be at least another fifteen minutes until the team gets back," Nadine pointed out. "So _for the love of your badge_ , will you _please_ go take some ibuprofen!"

"Fifteen minutes isn't even close to long enough," she protested. "The nearest twenty-four hour pharmacy has to be at least a half-hour round trip, even under lights." Before the damn snarky fox could do more than open his mouth she lifted a finger to point right at him. "And _no_ , Nick, I'm not going to use the lights just because I'm a little uncomfortable."

Nadine cocked her head, puzzled. "Er, Judy, what's wrong with the medicine cabinet in the break room?"

Judy sighed and dropped her head into her uninjured paw. There _was_ a small medicine cabinet in the break room, stuffed to overflowing with odd packets of everything from lozenges for a sore throat to tablets for soothing upset stomachs, from antiseptic wipes to plasters and small sterile dressings. Yes, there were even several nearly-new boxes of painkillers - she'd seen ibuprofen and aspirin in there for sure - but there was one _small_ problem.

"Nothing," she said heavily. "Nothing at all." Nadine looked at her, more confused. "Except for the fact that the smallest pills in there are the size of my whole paw!" She was exaggerating - there probably were pills smaller than that somewhere in that cupboard - but she was confident that just about everything in there was so far over the safe dose for a bunny it wasn't even worth looking.

Her partner blinked owlishly, mouth slightly open as though she were trying to say something. After a few seconds her mouth clicked shut and she let out a small, forlorn, "Oh."

Nick looked concerned though. "You sure, Fluff? There must be _something_ in there that-"

She shook her head, cutting him off. "No, Slick, there isn't. First bunny, remember? The smallest officers before me were sheep. Why would any of them have bought anything close to bunny-doses?"

He frowned. "But you've been on the force how long now?"

"I know," she sighed, "but-"

"But nothing," Nadine spoke across her. "We should have-"

"No." Judy shook her head firmly. "That medicine cupboard is where everyone puts stuff they brought in or bought during a shift and don't need at home. It's a communal thing, but nobody _has to_ stock it. If you bought some painkillers, Rory could probably use them just fine, but Grizzoli wouldn't complain that you hadn't bought wolf-sized pills as well."

"But there are other wolves on the force," Nick pointed out. "He wouldn't complain because someone else probably already did buy wolf-sized stuff."

Judy shrugged again, dismissing the protest. "But nothing," she said flatly, echoing Nadine's dismissal. "I haven't gotten around to buying myself some emergency supplies. Why should anybody else have to do that for me? I'm a grown doe and it's my fault for not anticipating something like this, _especially_ since I know about the cabinet - which wouldn't exist without good reason."

They bickered back and forth light-heartedly for the next few minutes, meandering through health and safety requirements, health and safety as a whole, and whether 'safe doses' were actually larger than stated to make it harder for mammals to overdose. Nadine handled the three radio interruptions smoothly, hardly breaking the flow of the conversation. Although she wanted to help - after all, she was there to learn - her partner waved her off, motioning to keep bantering with Nick.

"But _why_ would-"

She cut herself off at the rumble of big diesel engines out in the car park.

"They're here!" she squeaked excitedly, jumping up onto the desk to get a better view. It wasn't the most professional image but since the ZPD hadn't yet managed to buy properly adjustable chairs, on the desk would have to do.

Nick turned around, leaning back against the desk next to her and Nadine looked up, tail flicking, a hard expression on her face.

Four large officers, all made bulkier still by the heavy SWAT armour they were wearing, pushed into the lobby. Two of them moved to the large ordinary doors beside the main revolving entrance, unlocking them and hauling them open while the other two moved further into the building, blocking the nearest possible escape routes. Up the steps marched another six armoured officers, boxing in five cuffed mammals. Three hyenas came first, between the first and second pairs of officers; a coyote and a dingo between the second and third pairs.

Judy glanced over to her partner and was relieved to see a cold, toothy smile on her face and no sign of tension in her large body. She'd been a little worried about how Nadine might react to the hyena who'd recently _stabbed_ her and she was glad to see her in 'smug, victorious feline' mode and not claws-out 'angry ambush predator' mode. Nadine stood as the prisoners were brought over to the desk, cracking her knuckles.

"Well, _hel- **lo**_ boys," she said cheerfully. "Been busy tonight, have we?"

The lead escorting officer, a black wolf wearing sergeant's stripes that Judy didn't recognise, snorted. "You've got no idea, Fangmeyer. You'd 'ave liked it ou' there." He grinned toothily. "Lots 'a action, an' plen'y o' boo'ey ta bring back."

Nadine huffed dismissively. "Meyers, We both know it's been _years_ since you've seen any 'action' except for staring at 'booty'."

The wolf chuckled wryly and shook his head but didn't otherwise respond to the jab. "Come on, let's get this lot processed."

Nadine nodded and started entering details into one of the four computers hidden below the top of the desk, asking each of the prisoners to confirm basic details - name, address, have they been informed of the charges against them, have they been read their rights, and so on.

Judy meanwhile, had straightened under the wolf's keen gaze. She lifted her chin slightly, refusing to be intimidated by the armed and armoured mammal as he didn't quite look down his muzzle at her.

"Off'cer Hopps." His tone was neutral, giving away no hint of his feelings. The armour and other paraphernalia he was wearing made reading his body language almost impossible too.

"Sergeant," she responded coolly.

He stared at her for a moment more before breaking into a toothy smile. "Sarge Rob Meyers," he said, extending a paw.

Judy nodded in acknowledgement, shaking two of his fingers. "You obviously already know me, sergeant."

"Tha' ah do. Good ta mee'cha," he replied smoothly. "Nice job wiv Bew-wevver."

Judy shifted uncomfortably. "Not all of it."

Sergeant Meyers snorted. "Ah've bin on the force for years bunny," he scoffed. "Ya know how many flawless inves'gations I've seen? None. There's ahlways mistakes an' they're ahlways as big as the case. Case tha' big..." He trailed off with a shrug.

Just then a hippo plunked a large metal box down on the desk, jarring her. As she wobbled, she caught a glimpse of Nick. He looked off-balance, like he'd been forced to scoot aside for the hippo, and was wearing a mildly exasperated expression. She turned back to the hippo, fixing him with her best glare. Before she could say anything though, he boomed over her head, far louder than necessary.

"Hey, Fang, box o' toys for ya ta check in. And what's with the mascot?"

Judy's ears snapped flat against her back to protect them from the hippo's overly loud voice. Despite that reflex, she still winced at the volume and instinctively hunched down slightly. Nothing about this was improving her terrible first impression and she was about to give him a piece of her mind - as much as she could in uniform in the public areas of the station, at least - when a new voice interrupted.

"Corporal Waters." The words were soft but crisp, biting like a whip into the suddenly quiet lobby.

Judy hid a smile at the hippo's reaction and looked up to see Captain Gordon's scarred face, snapping to attention and saluting. She forced herself not to shiver as the light glinted off the jaguar's blind, silvery eye, the faintest hint of a memory of bloody sockets surrounded by grey fur stirring in the back of her mind.

"At ease, Hopps," the captain said with a dismissive wave. She turned her attention back to the hippo, regarding him coolly. "Waters, Officer Hopps is clearly in uniform and wearing her badge. Even if you somehow failed to recognise the only rabbit on the force, the uniform should have told you something."

Waters opened his cavernous mouth but was cut off by a vicious hiss from the jaguar.

" _Silence!_ " She waited until he closed his mouth fully, glaring at him with her one cold blue eye. "You've been warned about this before, Waters. One week suspension, no pay."

The hippo looked like he might be about to protest again, an act of either commendable bravery, or more likely stupidity.

"Do you want to make it two weeks?" she asked mildly. When no protest was forthcoming, the captain nodded. "Next time it won't be a suspension. Now get out of here."

Waters looked down, defeated, and began to trudge towards the door.

Captain Gordon walked over to the desk, coming to a halt a pace away, and looked over at Nadine. She raised an eyebrow and the tigress quickly looked away, getting back to processing the last of the prisoners.

"I'd like to apologise for my subordinates' behaviour, Officer Hopps, Mister Wilde," she said simply.

Out of the corner of her eye, Judy saw Nick blink and caught a slight twitch of both his left ear and the tip of his tail. She glanced at him and took the lead at his subtle gesture of 'all yours'. "Ah, thank you, ma'am," she said, uncertain. This was the first time she'd spoken to such a senior officer aside from Chief Bogo and she didn't want to make a fool of herself, especially if the captain knew her.

_Hello? Like she said, first bunny on the force! Of course she knows me._

"I um, I wasn't aware you knew Nick- Mister Wilde-"

Captain Gordon smiled thinly. It didn't really suit her: it was stiff and it pulled on scars in strange ways. Judy honestly thought - _very_ privately - that she might genuinely look better scowling or glowering. "Mister Nicholas Wilde: male _vulpes vulpes_ ; standard russet and cream fur with darker extremities; green eyes." She rattled off the information as though reading from a file. "The civilian who assisted you with the original Missing Mammals case as well as your work on the Nighthowler Conspiracy. Currently attending the Zootopia Police Academy, the first fox to do so."

Judy was more than a little taken aback and had no idea how to respond.

"I'm afraid I can't return the compliment, ma'am," Nick said respectfully, smoothly presenting himself and offering a paw.

The jaguar looked at him for a moment, assessing. Then she reached out, taking his paw and giving it a single, firm shake. "Captain Jessica Gordon," she introduced herself. "Precinct One 2IC, head of the Major Incident team and commander of the Precinct One SWAT unit."

"Nice to meet you, ma'am," Nick responded courteously. "Thank you for that, but I hope I'm not-"

She waved his words away. "Waters has never been the most pleasant mammal. He's reasonably good at his job but above all else, I need team players and will not hesitate to remind any of my officers of that." She turned back to Judy before he could respond. "Hopps, we need to talk about the changes you're proposing to the Academy courses at some point. When are you back on the day rotation?"

"The ninth of January, ma'am," she replied, taken aback by the notion that the steely captain was so interested in her proposals.

"Very good. I'll arrange something for that week. Hopps. Wilde. Fangmeyer." She nodded to each of them as she spoke their names then strode away deeper into the station.

Nick let out a long breath once she was out of sight. "Who _was_ that?"

Nadine, who'd finished processing the five mammals that had been brought in by the SWAT team by then, chuckled. "Don't worry, Nick. 'The Gorgon' likes you."

He looked at her askance. "One: _likes me_ ‽ Two: you actually call her that?"

She grinned. "If she didn't like you then you wouldn't still be standing there with all of your fur. It'd have mostly fallen out from terror and stress. And yes, but I don't know anyone who's tried it with her in earshot," she finished with a wink.

Meyers, who'd been standing patiently through all this, cleared his throat.

"Yeah, yeah," Nadine grumbled, turning back to the computers. The box of evidence still needed to be processed and boy, was it going to be a lot of work for the lab.

Twelve mid-scale firearms - six assault rifles, two sub-machine guns, and four handguns - and three thousand rounds of ammunition. Judy had shuddered when that had been called in and had decided not to think about how much damage that kind of weaponry could do. She eyed the box with distaste, wanting it out of sight as soon as possible.

_This is why all those mammals got hurt in that crash. This is why they nearly killed me and Freddie. Just so they could kill even more mammals._

She shook away the cloud of negative thoughts, focusing instead on the positives. The hippo owner of the Furcedes that the coyote and dingo had raided had quickly cracked under questioning, revealing he'd been contracted to bring in weapons and ammunition from abroad. From there, the trail had been long and winding, full of false names and forged documents. Despite all that though, here they were, just a few weeks later, with five more dangerous mammals in custody and off the streets. Sooner or later they'd find out where the money for the weapons had come from and they'd be able to continue making the world a better, safer place.

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The rest of the shift passed quickly and uneventfully, along with the following one. Before she quite knew it, Judy was done with her first 'week' of night shifts. The next two nights were spent exploring the city with Nick. Judy, feeling a little guilty at having stayed with Nadine for the previous three days, invited her along but she excused herself, claiming she needed to do a few boring things - housework, food shopping and the like. She wasn't happy with leaving her friend to menial tasks like that while she and Nick went and enjoyed themselves, but she knew Nadine well enough by now to not push.

Guided by Nick, she discovered a surprising variety of businesses that remained open long after sundown. Aside from the expected pubs, clubs, and bars, they found everything from salons to toy stores, from quirky little boutiques to corporate headquarters. Some catered specifically to mammals of a nocturnal bent while others simply offered extended or delayed business hours, allowing them to catch diurnal mammals after work as well as anyone heading in 'early' for a night shift. Some of the larger companies kept their offices open twenty-four hours a day, allowing their employees flexible working hours and ensuring international business could always proceed uninterrupted.

After spending nearly a full night touring Savannah Central she hadn't expected that there'd be much more to see or do the following night. How wrong she was, though. Nick, it seemed, was determined to prove that he really did know everyone. Somehow, the infuriatingly smug fox had managed to get them access to the second-tallest skyscraper in the city. In what she should have known was a futile attempt to knock his ego down a notch, Judy had pointed out that it was only _second_ -tallest. His smirk and refusal to retort were a giant red flag and she groaned internally, knowing he was playing her somehow.

Stepping out the lift, fifty-five floors above the street - and feeling just as under-dressed in her jeans and casual, comfy shirt as she had in the swanky lobby - she sighed heavily and prodded the fox next to her. "Niiiiick. The lights are off."

"Yes, Carrots, they are. Very observant."

Her foot began to twitch. "We're not supposed to be here, are we?"

He didn't reply, instead stepping closer to her and placing a paw on her back. "Trust me, Carrots," he said softly, nearly whispering.

All the tension left her at those words. She remembered - vividly - the night he'd admitted that he trusted her. The least she could do was show that she trusted him in turn. Allowing her ears to flop limply against her back, she relaxed into the moment, leaning back a little against his paw.

He began to walk forwards slowly, guiding her through the gloom. In the dim light spilling into the corridor from somewhere ahead she could see nothing but the boldest silhouettes; the occasional shadowy obstacle leapt out of the darkness as they passed but never once did Nick so much as allow her to stumble.

Nick spoke again as they reached what seemed to be the middle of the hallway. "Close your eyes, Fluff," he instructed gently.

Not wanting to disturb the almost reverential quiet with something as seemingly uncouth as a protest, she obeyed with a nod. The gloomy world vanished, replaced by the deep black of sleep, the faint glow from the end of the hallway not enough to light the insides of her eyelids.

A few paces later the pressure of his paw eased and she slowed to keep in contact with it. There was the soft click of a door being opened and then she was being guided out of the hall. Two doors and several sharp turns beyond them and Judy was hopelessly lost. Nick turned her left once more, leading her through another door and abruptly the faintly plastic-y flooring of the halls was gone. With silent pawsteps, Nick propelled her through a rich, plush carpet, so soft it almost seemed to massage her paws.

They drew to a stop and she felt Nick ease his guiding paw away from her back. There was a slight rustle of moving cloth - had he taken a step away from her?

"Open your eyes," he said, still quiet.

Suddenly a little breathless, Judy cracked her eyelids open. As soon as she saw what was in front of her though, her eyes began to widen at a prodigious pace. Acquiring a mind of their own, her paws came up to cup her muzzle as her heart seemed to start thumping away in her throat.

Spread out before her, glowing in a million bright colours, was _Zootopia_. Whether the sparkle was due to the upcoming celebrations or if the city always looked like this at night was no more than a faint flicker of a thought, easily ignored in the face of the wondrous vista.

Tundra Town, glistening with rich, warm blues as much as the sharper, icier tones that heralded the season.

Sahara Square, bathed in a cosy bath of ambers, golds, and reds, promising the comfort of celebrating with family and friends.

Savannah Central and Downtown, competing to show off the splendour of their festive raiment against the sodium-yellow backdrop of street lights.

Little Rodentia, blinking with innumerable tiny LEDs, a cacophony of bright, clashing patterns that reflected the intense bustle of life within its walls.

The Rainforest District, more subdued as the thick foliage blocked many of the lights, nonetheless gleamed in multi-coloured splendour, pin-pricks of colour sparkling into the night.

She forced her paws down and turned around, fighting the dampness in her eyes. "Nick..." she managed to whisper. She could just make out his outline in the dark room; that and his eyes: twin splashes of brilliant green, for once fully un-lidded. He wasn't hiding, she realised. Though she couldn't make out enough detail, she knew his trademark smarmy grin was gone. He was as open to her as he'd ever been - perhaps more than ever before. Her smile was soft and a little melancholy at the darkness that hid him. It was as flimsy a shield as could be though, and while she wished she could see him properly, wished she could get a proper look at the fox under all those layers of armour, that was not for tonight.

"Do you like it?" he whispered back, just as quietly.

She nodded happily and sniffed. _Dumb fox! Isn't it obvious?_ "It's _beautiful_ , Nick. _Thank you_." Slowly stepping forward, cautious in the dim, multicoloured light, she reached out for her friend and pulled him into an embrace. Clearly startled, it took a moment for him to respond. His arms wrapped around her in turn, gently pulling them together as she did the same.

"Thank you, Nick," she whispered again, safe from the dark in the arms of her friend.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They stayed up there in that office for hours - though it felt much shorter to her. Nick had somehow managed to arrange for a couple of wraps and a bottle of apple juice to be left in one of the desk drawers, and while she was sure it was delicious, Judy honestly didn't pay much attention to the food. She was far too engrossed with staring out through the panoramic window as Nick narrated the view for her, gently guiding her through the city from afar.

Eventually Nick had fallen silent, allowing her to bask in the scene for a while. As much as she wanted to linger though, the inexorable push of time could not be stopped.

"You know, Carrots, we are gonna need to head off soon."

She didn't respond immediately, turning slowly, savouring the extraordinary view one last time. "Why?" she asked softly.

"Because, well, this is someone's office and-"

She shook her head, almost annoyed at herself. _That made perfect sense in my head!_ "No, silly," she cut him off. Hesitating, reluctant to leave, she closed her eyes and took a slow breath, savouring the image she clung to, then turned to face him. "Why did you bring me up here?" Her eyes opened, finding his: in the dark, pools of near-luminous green. A slight chill raced up her spine, causing the fur on the back of her neck to lift slightly.

"To say 'thank you'," Nick replied without hesitation, still speaking quietly. "You don't know everything that you've already done for me, Judy. This is barely enough to begin thanking you for the stuff you _do_ know about."

She was about to protest when he held up a paw.

"The day you pulled me into chasing Otterton you saved my life. Admittedly I was only going to be iced because you _told a mob boss to his face that you were a cop_ , so maybe I shouldn't count that one?" There was no grin, no attempt to take a dig at her. Just that self-same green stare.

"Just a few hours later you saved my life again when you cuffed Manchas. And then again at Cliffside - though that one was kind of your fault too. Then you came and gave me the first honest, sincere apology I've ever heard. A couple of hours after that you tried to protect me when things went sideways with Bellweather. And now look at me: on the way to becoming the first fox on the ZPD. A _real_ , _honest_ job."

He stopped for a moment and looked away.

"The least, _the very least_ I could do was get you a new year's present worth remembering."

Judy knew her smile was more than a little watery but she didn't care right then. She wanted to protest, to point out everything he'd done for her in turn, that there was no debt owed, but she couldn't bring herself to ruin his gesture. Instead, she pulled him into another hug, squeezing gently but firmly, trying to convey everything she was feeling through the simple contact.

"A little early for new year's, Slick," she whispered.

He chuckled, giving her a little return squeeze before loosening his arms. She took the hint and let go of him, stepping back and looking up. "Well, you're working for the next few nights so if I didn't do this tonight it wouldn't have happened until eleven PM on the first - at the earliest." He gestured towards the door before adding with a smirk, "And I didn't want to be _that guy_ with the late present."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They spent the rest of the night wandering around Tundra Town, taking in the sparkling decorations the district was apparently renowned for. She had to admit, they _were_ impressive: statues and more abstract sculptures carved with incredible artistry from solid lumps of ice, some cleverly illuminated to make it seem like the solid material was flowing; fancy arrangements of lights, blinking in odd sequences that drew the eye into following twisting patterns that seemed never seemed to end or repeat.

Her favourite, she decided later, was an odd... thing they found in a snowy park. Near the middle, the ground sloped gently down from all sides, creating a natural bowl. At the centre of the depression stood what appeared to be another ice sculpture, artificial fog swirling around it, deep enough to almost completely hide the pedestal it stood on. As they got nearer to it though, Judy realised it wasn't made of ice. Instead, somehow the thing was made out of the fog: thick wisps and tendrils of the stuff, with faint, slightly luminous coloured swirls in a strange, near-otherworldly glow.

The shape the fog made was an unrecognisable blob to start with but as they reached the centre of the park - the artificial fog thankfully neither coming above the level of her chin nor as cold or wet as the real thing - she began to make out features. It seemed to be some kind of quadruped - there were four warped columns on the underside of the main body that might have been legs at least. Her suspicions were reinforced as they walked around it a little further and she caught a fifth protuberance that looked almost like a tail. Catching sight of a plaque through the fog, she leaned in to read it.

_And with the peace amongst the gods_  
_did their myriad creations flourish._  
_With satisfaction and joy did they observe_  
_and together granted a final gift._  
_Thus was all mammality, as one,_  
_elevated to grace and wisdom._

She'd never been particularly religious herself so she didn't recognise the passage off-paw but, bearing it in mind, she took a step back and squinted a little. The blob began to resolve then: yes, those _were_ legs, and yes, that _was_ a tail. The almost melted outline of a head with a long muzzle and strange but distinct ears took form. It was no mammal she recognised, that was for certain. The faintly glowing colours caught her eye again then - subtle greys, reds, oranges, browns, and gleaming white; the soft, shifting phosphorescence of the trapped fog held them all.

She gasped, eyes going wide as realisation struck her. That muzzle, almost canid; the tail, long, thin and rather feline; ears, longer and more rounded than a fox's but shorter and sharper than a rabbit's; the indistinct quadrupedal body. The artist had taken facets of dozens of mammals - perhaps more - and combined them in a surreal melting pot. This was a physical embodiment of the unity of mammals, of predator and prey, of rivals, competitors, and enemies.

She'd shared her realisation with Nick and they stood there for a while in content, contemplative silence. A fox with his arm over a rabbit's shoulder and hers around his waist. There might be a long way to go but it was comforting to see proof that other mammals believed none of them were that different.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following week at work flew past for Judy, despite being stuck inside the whole time. There was plenty to keep her busy, after all, and she was doing her best to keep her mind busy, which seemed to be working. No longer staying at Nadine's place, she was thankfully not sleeping badly, though the pawful of bunny plushies she'd brought back to the city with her probably couldn't say the same - it would be rather difficult to sleep well when being squeezed nearly to the point of popping.

She and Nick spent a couple of mornings at Nadine's place too. As weird as it felt to have a movie _morning_ after working all night, it _was_ relaxing and a good way to switch off from work. Plus, she got to make use of her new favourite pillows.

Despite all that, she was still a little restless. That poor doe's death kept tugging at her, distracting her every now and then. Keeping busy was great but it didn't solve everything so near the end of the week she asked Nadine about it. Her friend explained that hunting, done right, was a slow, careful endeavour; that although she was keeping her eyes and ears open for anything that might help, patience was going to be more important for now.

Judy had nodded, a little crestfallen - patience was not one of her strong suits. Nadine had watched her for a moment then grinned and winked, slipping her a copy of the initial forensic report on the body. Her spirits had soared then, only to fall as she read the report. Cause of death was asphyxiation: bruising around the throat too thick for a wire garrotte but too thin for a rope; the report suggested a tie or a thin scarf. Other bruises indicated a minor struggle and suggested she'd been ambushed from behind, one apparently distinct mark indicating her assailant had been a hoofed mammal. With that in mind, the damage around her eyes was consistent with them being removed post-mortem by hoofed fingers.

Unfortunately, short of identifying the assailant as a hoofed mammal, around the size of sheep or goat, there was very little that could be conclusively drawn from the report. Fibres and particles matched the general mess to be found in the city; nothing stood out as potentially identifying information.

She was cheered up considerably with the turn of the year though. Going in to work on the night of the thirty-first, she'd been a little blue at the thought of missing the celebrations. Despite the office areas having plenty of windows, none faced towards the city's central plaza or the Sahara Square beach - where the two largest parties were being held. The music and rippling pops and booms of fireworks were all the more distracting for being so tantalisingly close and she'd resigned herself to a miserable night, expecting it to be on a par with her second morning on the force.

Then Nick had sent her a video. Curious, as he'd never sent photos or videos to her before, she'd checked it out immediately and broken into a grin so large it barely fit on her face. From the looks of it, her best friend had decided to send some of the celebration her way. The footage was a little shaky - clearly paw-held - but spectacular nonetheless: a slow, panning shot showing the boisterous crowd down on the beach, sweeping up to follow the first fireworks. Stuck in an office for her first new year in the city, she nonetheless got to see some of the celebrations thanks to her sly, sneaky, wonderful friend.

On the night of the first, which she and Nadine had off, they went for a celebratory meal with Nick and several other officers whose shift patterns matched theirs. Settling into bed the next morning, Judy had to smile. Her first new year in the city may not have been perfect but she found herself suddenly _really_ looking forward to the next one.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before she quite knew it, Judy's first night shift rotation was coming to a close. Leaning back in her chair with a yawn, she glanced over at Nadine then up at the clock. Six AM. One more hour and they could go home. She still had to work tomorrow night but it would be a relief to start getting back into a proper diurnal schedule. While, as she'd shown, she was perfectly capable of working nights, it was a little depressing to see so little of the sun for three whole weeks.

It was quiet of course - not much tended to happen at this time on a Friday morning after all - and it was becoming a real battle to keep focused. Which of course, was when the phone on Nadine's side of the desk began to ring. Judy rolled her eyes and did her best not to eavesdrop as her partner answered it, tuning her out and trying to force herself to keep watching the grainy footage she'd been scrutinising. There were several security CCTV cameras near the alley where they'd discovered the dead doe and when not busy with anything specific, she'd been spending her time going through the recordings on the off chance she spotted something. So far it had amounted to nothing: there were at least two sheep and a goat in the general area at around about the right time, as well as several mammals wrapped up in jackets that concealed their appearance. There was also no sign of the doe herself, highlighting the large gaps in coverage those sporadically-placed cameras suffered from.

She jumped as Nadine tapped her on the shoulder.

"Come on," she said with a grin. "We got a call about some odd stuff at Mewcrosoft - the CFO's car is in the car park but he doesn't seem to be around and the main elevator to his office seems to be stuck."

"Shouldn't they have called a maintenance company?" Judy asked as she stretched in her seat.

"Normally yeah, but apparently there's also a weird smell coming from the lifts and site security want the ZPD to check things out first, just in case." She shrugged and stood. "They're a big company and they play nice with us. If they want us to check it out, we'll go check it out."

Judy frowned as she followed Nadine out of the office area. "Are you saying we wouldn't help a smaller company?"

"No, of course not!" Nadine scoffed. "But if the manager of your local newsagent called up and said there was a weird smell coming from his storeroom, we'd probably tell him to investigate it himself and call us back if it turned out to be something more serious than spoiled food." She looked down at Judy, catching her eye. "The Mewcrosoft security team are professionals though, and they wouldn't ask us to come take a look if they didn't genuinely think we were needed."

"Oh." Judy nodded in understanding then hopped up through the large cruiser door that Nadine was holding open. Though she didn't want others to think she wasn't capable of doing things herself, they'd discovered early on in their partnership that while Judy was able to use the large, heavy doors herself, it was often quicker and easier for Nadine to let her in and out through her own door. Buckling up, the two officers headed out into the crisp morning.

Arriving at the Mewcrosoft building, Judy couldn't help but notice the self-promotion the tech giant was known for. The gleaming tower exterior, mostly glass, had been covered in translucent images from the tenth to twentieth floors, massive not-posters emphasising their 'Project Icarus' and the incredible amount of money they were pouring into fusion research right now. After a brief pause at the entrance, the gate guard waved them through to the underground car park where they met the head of security, a brown bear.

He led them up into the lobby, asking them to treat anything they saw inside as confidential and commercially sensitive but not telling them more than they already knew. As they approached a second elevator bank on the opposite side of the lobby, Nadine froze.

"Shit," she said, looking at the bear. "Blood?"

Judy tensed, suddenly far more alert.

The bear nodded grimly. "I thought so too. Must be a lot of it for us to pick it up out here."

Nadine sighed heavily. "Great." She paused, thinking. "Where's the elevator stuck?"

"Right up at the top," the bear said, pointing at the ceiling.

"Okay. Let's get this door open then," she said, pointing at the elevator door nearest to them. "Judy, do you want to call this in?"

Though she felt a little queasy at the thought of there being enough blood behind that door for the two predators to smell it from out here, she shook her head. "No, I'm good."

Nadine didn't say anything, just tilted her head a little, looking at her intently, one eyebrow lifted ever so slightly. Both gestures were subtle enough that most mammals probably wouldn't notice but they were still irritating. Didn't Nadine trust her to do her job properly any more?

Judy crossed her arms and raised her chin defiantly. "I'm coming with you, Nadine. We can call it in once we know what we're actually dealing with. Besides, you might need me to look around."

The tigress hesitated, then nodded with obvious reluctance. "Okay," she said slowly, as if making a decision she knew she'd regret. Without further ado, she marched over to the elevator door and started to pry it open.

Judy winced at the coppery tang of blood that wafted through the gap. It was sharp and unpleasant and the primitive part of her brain screamed a warning at the scent, urging her to get away from it. Scrunching her muzzle and shaking her head, she pressed forward as Nadine got the door all the way open, the mechanism locking it open.

The elevator shaft was dark. Not quite pitch black, thanks to the slivers of light that made it through gaps around the other doors, but certainly murky. Leaning forwards, she looked down, searching for anything that might indicate where the scent of blood was coming from.

"Judy!" Nadine warned.

She was a moment too late though, as Judy spotted a silver-grey paw sticking out from behind one of the vertical beams. She recoiled, looking away and breathing a little faster. Tuning out her partner, she stood still for a moment, breathing deeply and deliberately to get control of herself again. "I'm okay," she said after a minute.

Nadine obviously caught the tremor in her voice. "You sure?"

Judy nodded, swallowing thickly and taking a deep breath before turning back to the elevator shaft. "Looks kind of like a wolf paw," she said. "Who was it that they thought was stuck in the lift?"

"The CFO," Nadine said slowly. "Who's a grey wolf in his sixties." She leaned forward, her head and shoulders fully in the shaft. "Aww, shit. He's a mess," she observed and Judy was grateful she couldn't make out the detail her partner could. "Found the blood, too."

Judy had to turn away at that, breathing heavily. "R- right," she said, just managing not to squeak.

Nadine placed a heavy paw on her shoulder, squeezing gently. "Why don't you head upstairs and check out his office?" she suggested.

Judy bit her lip and nodded, knowing there wasn't much she could do here. In a vague, distracted way, she noticed the security chief had sat down against the wall and looked somewhat unwell. Nodding to herself this time, in affirmation of the fact that she was handling this much better than she had her first body, she crossed over to him and asked to be taken upstairs.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Nadine," Judy called into her radio.

"I hear you, Judy. What've you got?"

"No sign of struggle or anything up here: everything in the office is neat and tidy. A couple of drawers in the desk are open but that's nowhere near the elevator."

"So you don't think he was in trouble?"

"No," Judy said in a small voice. "Not like that anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"The elevator door's jammed open with a couple of pens and what looks like some kind of note or book stand." She was silent for a moment. "He might have done this himself."

Nadine sighed heavily into her radio. "Shit."

"Yeah." Judy felt awful, but less for herself and more for the dead wolf. Had his life really been so bad that he needed to end it? She shook her head, determined not to get pulled into a what-if guessing game again. "Let's call it in. I think we've got everything we're likely to here."

"You're probably right. Not much more we can do without contaminating the scene anyway. You get back down here, I'll report what we've got and get a CSI team out here."

As she crossed the opulent office back to the door to the small secretary's area, Judy couldn't help glancing out of the window. Though this might be the tallest building in the city, the view was partially blocked by the _second_ -tallest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *cracks knuckles* Let's see if I can anticipate the biggest questions/criticisms/claims of inaccuracy/inconsistency, shall we?
> 
>   1. Two weeks in a cast, three to four weeks to fully heal a broken bone: Judy's a _bunny_. That means much smaller, thinner bones than a human, which implies there isn't as much bone to repair. Assuming the underlying biochemical wizardry of growing/repairing bones is pretty much the same for everyone, less bone to repair means less time taken for the repair.
>   2. Winter celebrations with no mention of Christmas: I appreciate the sentiment behind stories that put Christmas into the world of Zootopia but, as I'm trying to keep this story grounded and realistic (yes I know, sentient animals) that very _Christian_ celebration just doesn't ring true for me in a world where the cultural background would likely be completely different. From what I remember of Religious Studies at school, most religions - and certainly the big three Abrahamic ones - have a notion of 'man being created in god's image'. While you could kind of make this work in a polytheistic pantheon of gods for Zootopia, I find it hard to believe that a Jesus-like figure would emerge from that. There might be dozens or hundreds of more minor 'prophets' or 'children of gods', a la Greek or Hindu mythology, but I don't think a single one would rise to the prominence of Jesus in Christianity. Therefore, in my version of Zootopia at least: no Christmas.
>   3. The big deal being made of new year: the founding of Zootopia as well as several major events in its history all happened more or less around this time. It was a ballsy political play that established the modern calendar and brushed all those 'near enough's under the rug. Basically _all the cool, good, fun stuff happened on New Year's Day_ because historical politics say so.
>   4. Judy's very different reaction to her second body: a) second; b) not a bunny; c) she only saw the wolf's paw; d) not a murder.
> 

> 
> I'm honestly a little surprised I've not seen 'Mewcrosoft' before. Maybe it's just the scientist in me but I couldn't resist - "micro" is an SI prefix after all, usually shortened to μ, the Greek letter 'mu', pronounced pretty much as 'mew'.
> 
> If any of the timings/dates are confusing, by the way, I have a full chronology worked out for this story. I can post a redacted version if it would be helpful, but I'd rather wait until the story is done.
> 
> Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go get started on the next chapter. The next couple are gonna be _fun_!


	17. Chapter 15: Fox in the Headlights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh. Missed the film's anniversary :( This one ended up a lot harder than I thought it would be. As it turned out my original draft of this just didn't quite work and I ended up reworking most of the second half. I _think_ it's turned out better, but I'm still a little on the fence about it. Enough yapping! On with the chapter!

"Hey, Slick, how's it going?"

"Hey, Carrots."

"Whoa!" the bunny exclaimed. "You sound _wrecked_. What happened?"

Nick groaned into the phone, not encouraged. "You remember we were gonna be working with the ZFD today, right?"

"Yeah, of course." She hesitated for a moment. "Did someone say something-"

"Nah," he cut her off. "You know me. Never let them-"

"See that they get to you, yeah, but that doesn't mean things _don't_ get to you."

"It's fine, Carrots. It was just a _long_ day." She didn't reply so he carried on. "Anyway, what's going on in my city?"

"Oh it's _your_ city now?"

"Of course," he shot back. "Well, maybe," he conceded after a moment. "But it's more mine than yours!" She chuckled at that and he found himself - as was becoming more and more common - smiling at the sound of her laughter.

"Well," she began slowly, "the media circus around the Mewcrosoft thing finally seems to have died down: Nadine and I didn't even get any messages from reporters today."

It was his turn to chuckle. Judy, understandably, wasn't the biggest fan of the press. Between the original Missing Mammals press conference, her apology press conference, and various ZPD media campaigns, she'd more than had her fill of reporters asking intrusive questions. Unfortunately for her, that notoriety was unlikely to fade any time soon, especially if she kept making a name for herself - which was hard to avoid as the first rabbit cop.

"Any leads on that yet?" he asked, partially to get her mind off the press and back to her job, the one topic that would always be safe.

"No," she groaned. "At least nothing I know about. The whole thing got handed over to a task force almost straight away."

Nick frowned at that. "Isn't it weird to get a whole task force assigned to one probably-suicide? I mean it sounds like someone's greasing the wheels a bit here, either from City Hall or with some good old-fashioned cash." Judy hesitated before answering and when she did, her reply had his ears perking forward, interest most definitely piqued.

"Normally I might agree with you, Slick," she said cautiously. "But I know a bit about this task force and... that's definitely not going on here."

"Okay, so what's going on? You obviously know _something_."

"I'm sorry, Nick," she said immediately. "I can't say any more. None of the mammals involved can." The words were smooth, practised and polished. She'd obviously had to use that line more than once with other mammals.

"But you do know something," he pressed.

"I know about the task force. I know a little bit about why it was set up," she admitted. "But I have no idea about the details of anything they're investigating."

Although she sounded sincere, Nick could tell there was something else. Nothing she'd said was a clear lie but at the very least she was hiding something. "Carrots," he began.

"Nick please!" she cut him off. "Please leave it alone."

That stung. It stung a lot. _I thought we were supposed to trust each other?_ She resumed speaking before he could get enough of a grip on his dismay to throw back a snarky quip.

"Look, it's not you. I'd tell you if I could, _I swear_. But this is all being kept very secret, even from other officers. The task force don't want any chance of anything leaking before they finish their investigations."

"Really?" he asked, his spirits lifting hopefully.

" _Really_ ," she replied. "Even Nadine doesn't know anything else about this."

"Wow." Nick was genuinely surprised by that revelation. "Isn't she more senior than you though? Why doesn't she know more?" Judy started to reply but he spoke over her as a thought crossed his mind. "Hang on, is it something to do with-"

"Nick, _please_!" Judy practically shouted. It was loud enough that he pulled the phone a little way away from his ear. " _Please_ , let it go. I don't want to say anything that would get _both of us_ into trouble."

He was silent for a moment, digesting everything that had been said in the last couple of minutes. "Okay," he started slowly. "I'll leave it alone and keep my muzzle shut - I don't want to land either of us in hot water."

"Thank you, Nick."

"But!" he barked. "I want to know about this at some point. If it's something to do with what I think it has, then I'm not all that happy about being kept in the dark, Carrots."

"I know, Slick," she said softly. "I'd feel the same way if I were you. And if it did have something to do with what I think you're thinking of, then I'd expect you'd find out more as soon as possible. I trust you, Nick, and I wish I could tell you what I do know, but these are direct orders from some very senior officers."

He sighed heavily. "I get it, Carrots, don't worry."

"I'm sorry, Nick," she said quietly, the words barely audible.

He paused, silently acknowledging that she'd spoken. "Alright then, what else is new?" he asked with a pinch of slightly forced cheer.

"Um... oh right!" she exclaimed happily, clearly pleased by the change in topic. "One of my sisters is getting married next month so I'll be back in Bunnyburrow for a couple of days right before you graduate."

"Carrots, I know you family is big, but how haven't you run out of sisters yet?" he teased. "I swear hundreds of them have gotten married since I met you."

"Har, har," she droned flatly. "You _do_ know that four doesn't count as 'hundreds', right? You might be in trouble with the written exams otherwise."

He hesitated. Just for an instant, his jaw was frozen. "I'll have you know, ma'am, that four sure looks a lot like a hundred. You just have to be a bit more artistic than you clearly are, and maybe squint a bit." She chuckled and for a moment he thought he'd gotten away with it.

"Nick," she began softly. "I can tell something's bothering you, you know? You don't have to tell me about it if you really don't want to; just remember how much better you felt when you told me about your nightmares after the museum."

"Damn it, rabbit," he sighed heavily. "You've gotten too good at reading me."

"I don't think trying to avoid talking about your day and hesitating when I mention the exams are _that_ difficult to spot."

"Fine," he grumped. "You've gotten too good at working out which questions to ask."

She made a little moue of agreement. "I'll take that."

Despite himself he couldn't help but grin, even as he shook his head in exasperation.

"Seriously though, Nick, if you want to talk about whatever it is, then I want to hear about it."

Temptation made him hesitate again, weighing the options. "Are you sure, Carrots? It's kind of a silly thing. And it might take a while to explain."

"I'm sure," she replied instantly. "I don't care how silly you think it is, or how long it takes, or anything else. I'll _never_ say no if you need to talk, or even if you just _want_ to talk. You're my best friend, Nick. I'll never leave you to deal with stuff on your own - unless it's something you _really_ want to do without help."

Eyes uncharacteristically prickling at the conviction in Judy's voice, it took Nick a moment to find his own. "Thank you, Judy," he whispered. He was silent for a while then, working up the nerve to face the problem.

Apparently misinterpreting the quiet, Judy spoke up again. "So, the ZFD day, huh?" she asked brightly. "Did anyone manage to set themselves on fire?"

That shook him out of his introspection. "What‽" he yelped.

Judy giggled at his reaction. "Ah, nothing, really. I guess. One of the instructors I had told me about a class they had one year when someone did it but they wouldn't say who it was or which year it happened in, so I'm half-convinced that it's an academy myth. Just wondering if you had an actual sighting to report."

He chuckled at her explanation. "It does kind of sound like something an instructor would make up - and say with a completely straight face - just to mess with us. But no, no flaming mammals today."

Though he was grateful she had decided to stop pushing, she was also right. Taking a breath to steady himself, he began to speak once more. "Judy, um, you're right, something is bothering me." He could practically _hear_ her sitting up straighter, ears perking as she focused on the phone, even as he pictured her reacting exactly like that.

"Okay, foxy," she said, imitating a cliché cheery waitress. "Judy Hopps' Professional Friendly Listenin' Service here. What's up?"

Though it was rather over-the-top, Nick couldn't help but chuckle at her playful acting. "Well, miss Hopps," he began, putting on a gravelly barfly's voice. "Lemme tell ya bit about me day."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Six AM start. An hour-long drive in a minibus with seats that were surely designed as a torture device. Two hours of briefings: first the scenario, then the safety brief, then a third - whose contents were well and truly lost to the mists of time.

"It's a fun day out with the ZFD," Nick muttered to himself, blowing on the steaming paper cup of coffee he held in both paws. "Fire and action and maybe even an explosion! It'll be great!" He rolled his eyes and took a sip of his drink. Despite Judy's warning, he'd actually grown accustomed to coffee; mostly it was useful as a hot drink that could warm him from the inside at the same time as keeping his paws from freezing, though occasionally he'd also have a cup for the caffeine kick. Today, an unseasonably frosty March morning, it was more than a little of both.

"Aaaaaaalllrighty, cadets," the ZFD instructor running the day - a rather imposing elephant - called loudly, capturing the attention of all the milling ZFD and ZPD cadets. "Let's head on over and do our walk-through so we can start turning up the heat!" There were several chuckles from the cadets as they fell in to a loose group, shepherded by a pawful of other instructors.

The exercise scenario was straightforward enough: a four-storey apartment block had a fire start in one of the first-floor apartments; the ZPD cadets would be responsible for setting up and maintaining a perimeter cordon while the ZFD teams would work search-and-rescue as well as tackling the fire. The pawful of mammals in need of 'rescue' were to be played by some of the instructors, with others outside monitoring individual teams, any of them able to abort the exercise as soon as they felt anything was getting unacceptably dangerous.

Realism was added for the ZFD cadets by the actual fires that would be started in the specially-built exercise building. They were gas-fed and while the walls and furniture might look fairly normal, they were actually made of stone, ceramics, and concrete to ensure that all of the blazes could be extinguished at a moments notice. A fire-suppressant foam system was also discretely installed, the nozzles - which looked pretty much like water sprinklers - hidden inside what appeared to be broken light bulbs. Despite all the safety features, there was a contingent of paramedics on-site as well, ready to deal with everything from minor burns to smoke inhalation and worse.

In contrast, the ZPD part of the exercise was relatively simple: all they had to do was keep everyone out of the building. In this case, 'everyone' meant the bus-load of civilian volunteers who'd turned up for the day, many of them being given the day off as part of various community support or charitable work schemes.

The walk-through was exactly that: a full tour of the soon-to-be-burning building, with everything from safe zones to emergency escape routes and even the locations where mammals needing 'rescue' would be waiting. Nick felt it was a little too much information - surely it wouldn't be much of a challenge if they already knew where everyone to be rescued was? Regardless, the tour eventually finished and they broke for brunch.

While the ZPD cadets could take their time, the ZFD lot had to scarf down a decent amount as fast as they could since they needed to go check over their equipment and gear up before the exercise could begin. Despite their head start, most of the ZPD cadets were finished with their food long before the ZFD were ready to go. As a result, they'd started up a small six-a-side football match, with the remaining ZPD cadets either waiting to be substituted on or simply lounging around, taking advantage of the very rare opportunity to laze around in the middle of a training day.

"Wouldn't have thought those fluorescent suits would be so hard to find," Gunther grumbled from his position at the makeshift goal behind Nick. He suppressed a frown at the comment and pretended not to have heard, focusing on the ball, now coming back towards their end of the pitch. The big black bear had become more and more taciturn as they'd progressed through their training as he'd continued to struggle academically, even as he improved physically. His attitude towards Nick had also soured somewhat ever since hearing that the fox had shared a bed with Judy, even though it was a hospital bed and nothing had happened apart from sleeping.

They were ten minutes into the game, everyone just getting nicely warmed up, when the ZFD lot got back. They packed up with a bit of good-natured grumbling, casually ribbing the firefighters' outfits and tardiness as they assembled for the exercise to come.

After a quick check to make sure everyone was present, the instructors gave one final verbal run-through of the exercise - reminding everyone of their roles - and spent another few minutes running through the safety procedures, ensuring everyone knew the emergency frequency for their radios and reminding them to immediately call an instructor if they saw anything they weren't one hundred percent sure was safe. Briefing complete, the majority of the instructors dispersed to take up their positions for the exercise, a few remaining with the ZPD cadets and a few others accompanying the ZFD group to the old fire engines they'd be using for the exercise.

All of a sudden a long, wailing klaxon sounded, announcing the exercise area was going live loudly enough to make most of the assembled cadets flinch. After it blared forth and faded out twice all was silent for a moment before the fake apartment block exploded into flames with a great, whooshing roar. Nick jumped at the sudden burst of fire.

"Holy...!" Charlotte exclaimed, the zebra's eyes implausibly large.

"There are mammals in there?" Tony asked, trepidation and nervousness clear in his voice - a rarity for the big lion.

Sam didn't say anything, but Nick could see the fur on the back of her neck bristling.

"All units, we have a major fire in an apartment block on the edge of Savannah Central." The voice of their exercise dispatcher was calm and professional - something that seemed almost alien to the cadets staring a burning building in the face right then. "Units within a mile are ordered to respond immediately; units further out will be diverted as necessary."

With a sharp nod, the instructor supervising their group ordered them into action. "Go!" he barked.

Pairing off as had been pre-planned, the ZPD cadets took off at a jog, spreading out around the building to form a perimeter. Nick, partnered with Charlotte, had been assigned a post about a third of the way around the building, nearly a kilometre from where they'd started. While he was by no means unfit, Charlotte began to pull ahead, her longer legs giving her an advantage. Seeing she was leaving him behind, she began to slow.

"Go!" Nick huffed. "I'll catch up."

"We're supposed to-"

"Longer it takes, more people might get past before we arrive," he panted, cutting her off. She looked at him appraisingly, then nodded and accelerated. He picked up the faint sounds of sirens behind him as she drew away and swallowed nervously, glancing at the fiercely burning building.

_Glad that's not_ my _job._

Ahead of him, he could see a civilian approaching the building and he had a moment to mentally curse whichever instructor had send them out before he and Charlotte were in position. She was about fifty metres ahead of him now but even she would be hard-pressed to reach the civilian before they reached the safety line that marked an effective perimeter breach. With a growl of frustration, he accelerated from a rapid jog into a full sprint, determined not to fail before they'd really begun. Charlotte piled on the speed too, bounding along with impressively long strides.

"Ma'am! Stop!" she called sharply. Her voice wasn't as authoritative as it might otherwise have been while giving that order, but it was a good effort given how hard they were now running. The leopard glanced over at them, apparently surprised. Then, in what was either excellent acting or genuine mishap, she promptly tripped, coming to an ungraceful halt as she kicked up a small puff of dust from the dry ground. Nick had to resist the urge to chuckle as Charlotte arrived and began to help the leopard up, only to promptly get into what seemed to be a mild wrestling match with her while she screamed something about dry cleaning.

Slowing back to a steady jog now that his partner had the leopard in hand, he scanned around, looking for any more trouble heading their way. The fire engines were arriving and nobody else was attempting to approach anywhere near him or Charlotte. He reached the zebra a moment later, approaching from behind the still agitated leopard. Gesturing, he indicated that he'd take over trying to calm her down.

Giving a subtle nod of thanks, Charlotte waited for a gap in the leopard's spiel before saying brightly, "Ma'am, if I could leave you with my partner for a moment, I'll be back as soon as I take care of a couple of things." She nodded towards Nick and slipped away as the leopard turned to him and then froze in shock.

"A _fox_?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes, ma'am," Nick said with a smile, concealing a wince. "Now why don't you tell me what the problem is?"

She sniffed, turning her nose up at him. "I'm not saying anything to a-"

"Ma'am," Nick cut her off firmly. "I understand that you may not wish to speak to me, but I feel it would be irresponsible of me to not warn you that committing a hate crime against a ZPD officer is _not_ what most mammals would consider to be a good idea."

She gaped at him for a moment, mouth opening and closing a few times. "Are you _threatening_ me, _fox_ ‽" she blustered.

"No, ma'am," Nick explained calmly. "I'm advising you that continuing as you were would not be in your best interests." She frowned at him as though he'd set her a verbal puzzle. "Now, how can I help?" he asked before she could get started again.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Nick," Judy said softly. "You're not... One small-minded leopard isn't enough to get to you, right?" She sounded nervous, as if she were uncertain where he was going with his story.

Nick bit his lip, not really wanting to continue and reveal just how weak he was, not to her. The silence stretched like a piece of rubber, tension thickening as she waited for him to speak.

"You know, Slick," she whispered at last. "No matter what, I won't stop believing in you. I don't care what anyone else says or thinks. I _know_ you can do this and I'll _never_ doubt you, not for one second." Her voice rose as she spoke, threads of iron-hard conviction twining through her words.

He couldn't respond - his throat was too tight.

"If... If _you_ don't- don't want to do this any more, Nick," she sniffed and he suddenly felt even worse.

"No, Carrots!" he exclaimed, finding his voice at last. "No, not that." He paused, closing his eyes and exhaling hard, purging all the air he could from his lungs. He took a deep breath, then spoke. "I _do_ want to do this. You don't understand- For the first time in a very long time-" He cut himself off with a shake of his head and a small snarl.

"For the first time in my _life_ , Judy, I _want_ do something; to _be_ something. Ever since the- Ever since I was nine, I've been drifting. I did what I had to to survive but none of it meant a damn thing. My whole life, ever since that night, has been about what other mammals expected from me. I was surviving, living, day to day but all of it was about others. Nothing I ever did was for me." He snorted derisively. "Hell, even helping you when Bogo wanted to take your badge wasn't about me."

He sighed heavily, closing his eyes once more and letting his head thump back against his pillow. "When you first gave me the application form... It hurt, Fluff. It hurt a lot. I know it's not like that now," he said quickly, before she could protest. "But do you remember what I said?"

"You- You said 'just when you thought someone actually believed in you'..." Her voice was small, ashamed.

"Even my own mum stopped believing in me, Carrots," he explained heavily. "I had plenty of business partners who believed I could pull a job off, plenty of mammals believed I could or would do something - usually to them. But nobody ever believed in _me_." His eyes prickled, even though he was holding them firmly shut. "Then you came back, and everything else happened, then we went to Bunnyburrow and I found out you still had the form." He drew a ragged breath, trying to force his emotions and reactions back under control. "That's when I realised. All that time you kept it. You believed in me all along, didn't you?"

"Yes," she whispered. "I'm sorry. At the press con-"

"No, Judy. We're past that, remember?"

She sniffed. "O- Okay."

He took a moment to pick up his thread of thought again. "You've believed in me ever since I started helping you, haven't you?"

"Yes." Her voice was even quieter; almost inaudible.

Nick shuddered, desperately wishing he could reward that belief. The paw holding his phone was trembling now, apprehension twisting vicious claws into his belly. He'd come this far though. If he deflected now then she'd know for sure he was hiding something and sooner or later she'd get it out of him. _May as well get it over with now,_ he thought morosely.

"You were wrong."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Judy's heart stopped.

"No," she breathed, barely comprehending what she'd just heard. Her heartbeat was abruptly a loud thumping in her ears. She shook her head, rejecting the idea. "No, Nick."

"Judy-"

"NO!" she shouted, starting to become angry. "I don't care what anyone else thinks. I don't care about your past or anything else. And even if I did, you don't get to tell me what I should believe." She huffed in annoyance. _Dumb fox!_ He tried to reply but she bulled onward, not giving him a chance. "I _know_ you can do this, Slick. You're kind and strong and brave and I don't care what anyone else says. I don't care what anyone else thinks. You _are_ going to make an amazing cop."

"But I'm not, Judy!" he exclaimed, his voice uncharacteristically emotional. She could clearly hear fear and doubt, anguish and sorrow. "I'm _none_ of those things! Damn it, I don't know _why_ I thought I could do this." He spoke rapidly, blurting words out as fast as his muzzle could move. "I- It's- This whole thing, it feels like some hustle that's about ready to blow up in my face any moment! I look around at the others here... There are mammals like you; mammals have dedicated _years_ to this and I just turn up and-" He cut himself off with a panicked huff but continued before she could get a word in.

"I look around and I wonder what the hell I was thinking trying to be a part of this. There's no way I'm good enough to be here." Judy's ears were firmly plastered against her back as she listened to her best friend berate himself. "I've bluffed my way through so far and I'm just waiting for one of the instructors - or hell, even one of the other cadets - to call me out on it and send me packing." He trailed off, panting. His next words were halting and filled with a bitter, haunted tone. "I... I don't know what I expected. I'm just a fox." Judy felt like her heart was breaking as he continued. "I- I know I'm... I'm letting you down - badly - but..." He huffed out his remaining breath and she thought she caught a sniffle as well. "Judy... would we... Could we still be friends if I dropped out?"

Though she was desperately fighting her own emotions, Judy knew she had to say something. "Nick... Can- Just gimmie a minute, okay?" He didn't reply and she bit her lip, trying not to think about how the stupid fox would take that. She clutched her phone to her chest with both paws as she slowly regained a semblance of equilibrium, her breathing and heart rate both falling as she worked hard to calm herself. Nick needed her to be strong now.

She took a deep breath before lifting the phone back to her ear and starting to speak, making sure her voice was even and sincere. "Nick. No matter what happens, no matter what you decide to do, I'll _never_ stop being your friend." He didn't reply but she could hear his tense breathing so he at least hadn't run away from his phone. She sighed. "Okay, Nick, where are you?" Still nothing. "Nick?" she prodded, rolling her eyes.

"In the dorm," he said quietly.

"Good. Have you got your New Year's present there?"

"Yeah." His tone wasn't as bleak as before, showing a hint of curiosity.

"Right. I want you to look at it - really look at it, Nick." She was silent for a few seconds, giving him time to do as she'd asked. "What do you see?" she asked softly. "What does it bring to mind?"

"It- It's a bridge," he said at last. "It's a bridge with you and me under it. It's a reminder of the day you came back, the day..." he trailed off, his voice losing its edge. "You came back and apologised, to _me_!" his voice rose into a disbelieving chuckle at the last word. "I think it's the day I really made a friend."

While Nick had given her the chance to see her new home from a wonderful and unexpected perspective, she'd given him a little paw-painted model of their reunion: a sturdy old stone bridge in a grassy field, miniature red and grey figures embracing underneath it. She'd spent more time in model shops searching for the right pieces than she really wanted to admit, but the end result had definitely been worth it.

"You know what I see?" she asked. "I see the day we beat Bellweather. I see the day we helped fix the city a little bit; helped make it a better place. But it's _so_ much more as well, Nick." Her voice thickened as she continued. "It's where you forgave me, where you let me back into your life. It's where, despite everything I'd done, I made the best friend I've ever had." She swallowed thickly, determined to make him see reason.

"Do you remember what happened that day, Nick? You helped me fight off Doug's goons, refused to leave me behind when I was injured, came up with the hustle that took down a corrupt mayor. You acted your part perfectly and then, when things went sideways, you still stayed with me and tried to help, even though you got hurt because of it. Then just a couple of days later, while you were _in hospital with broken ribs and bite wounds from a savage mammal_ , you talked Bogo into sending you out to talk to Mister Big to help speed up the treatment."

She paused, taking a shaky breath. "You. Are. _Not_. A coward, Nick. I don't know if I'd have been brave enough to go to Mister Big, alone and injured like that. You _chose_ to put yourself in danger just to help sick mammals who couldn't help themselves. Even if I knew _nothing_ else about you, that would be more than enough for me to know you'd make a _great_ officer."

"Judy..." Nick whispered, uncertain.

"Nick," she said firmly into the silence as he trailed off. "You are an amazing mammal and I've _had it_ with the world putting you down. No matter what, I'll always be fighting in your corner. You _will_ be a great cop." In a softer voice, she added, "If _you_ don't want to do that any more, then that's fine too. As long as it's _your_ decision, as long as you don't let others tell you what you're worth, I'll be right here supporting you."

"Judy, you don't understand," he tried to say.

"No, Nick, I do understand. You can do this. Even if you don't believe that right now, doesn't my opinion count for anything?"

"Of course it does!" he yelped. "But- Look, I screwed up! Today, in the exercise." He was silent for a moment. "What if I screw up on the job? What if some mammal gets hurt, or worse, because I messed up. Your opinion means the world to me Judy - even if you're looking at this through rose-tinted glasses. But I- I don't know... if I can handle this. If I can handle the responsibility."

"What happened, Slick?" she asked gently. "This isn't like you. What's gotten my sly fox all up in a fluff?"

He let out a reluctant, self-derisive chuckle. "A mammal got past me. Charlotte was busy dealing with a wolverine when this goat comes up to me. Sweet old biddy with a mean cane, wailing about her _son_ being in the building. How she had to get to him." He paused. "I froze. Just for a second, but it was enough for her to clock me on the muzzle with that stick and get past me." He sighed. "What if that really had been someone's mum, worried about them and burned alive because I couldn't hold it together?"

Judy sucked in a breath through her teeth. "Firstly: it's a _training exercise_ , Slick. Nobody's expected to be perfect there. The whole point is to put you in a difficult situation that you've probably never been in before. Exercises like that are specifically designed to let mammals mess up safely so they won't do the same later. Second: even when you finish, nobody can be perfect on the job. It takes time and experience, neither of which you've got yet. You shouldn't be so harsh on yourself. Third: why did you freeze?"

He hesitated for a long, painful minute before replying. "I... Bad memories, Fluff," he offered morosely.

"Your family?" she asked softly.

"Yeah," came the hesitant, expected answer - his earlier remark about his mother not believing in him, and his emphasis on the goat talking about her _son_ were easy enough clues to spot. Judy stayed silent though, wanting Nick to continue on his own. Eventually he did. "I'm... not on good terms with my mum, Judy. She's the only family I've got left and..." He sighed heavily. "I was kind of an arse," he admitted. "I just... I had this stupid thought that I wished my mum would act like that for me."

Judy gasped. "Nick! How could you say that?" She was appalled at the very idea. "She's your mum! No matter how badly you fell out, she'd always fight tooth and claw for you."

"You don't get it, Judy," Nick said miserably. "I screwed up _badly_. There were a couple of huge fights, she practically disowned me, and I've not even spoken to her in years. There's no way she'd give me the time of day, never mind sacrifice herself for me."

Her head shaking, refusing to believe his words. "No. You're wrong, Nick. I don't know what it'll take to prove it to you, but I'm going to find out."

"Judy, please," he begged. "Don't do this. I wrecked that bridge. I'm the one that needs to try to fix it." He snorted. "I was kind of hoping showing up in uniform might be a good start but..."

_Dumb fox! He's still on about that‽_ Judy found herself grinding her teeth in frustration. "Shut up for a minute, Nick," she snapped. "Look, I get that you've had a bad day. One bad day will only make the rest of your life if you let it. Even if you're doubting yourself - and ignoring everything else I've said - you've made it this far through the academy. Why throw away months of work without trying? Police work _might_ not be for you - not that I believe that - but there's only a few weeks left until you get to find out. _Please_. Give yourself a chance. Stop selling yourself short."

Nick sighed heavily then was silent. "All right," he said eventually, sounding weary, as though he was agreeing just to get her to stop pressing the issue. "I'll see this through. Night, Judy."

"Nick!" she called before he could hang up.

"Yeah?"

"Nick, I want you to look at that bridge again. _Try, **please try**_ to see what I see. An incredible mammal, my best friend, and someone who deserves so much better than life's given them. And Nick, remember that I'm in your corner. I believe in you and you're never going to change my mind about that." There was silence for a few seconds.

"Goodnight," he said softly.

"Goodnight, Nick," she replied tenderly. There was a soft click and their conversation was done.

"Ya know," her wall said brightly after a bare moment of silence.

"Not tonight!" she snapped. "So help me, if I hear another _word_ from either of you, we're gonna take a trip down to the station and I _swear_ I'll chuck you both in the drunk tank." The wall, blessedly, remained quiet as her thoughts roiled.

_No way am I leaving it like this. **Dumb fox!**_ With a mental sigh and a roll of her eyes she got up to finish preparing for bed. _I'll have to talk to Nadine tomorrow,_ she thought, beginning to plan out the next few days. _No way am I leaving him to stew like this._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The human brain is extraordinary. Less than one and a half kilos of grey goop processes the stupidly large amount of data it's fed by your body, regulates a bunch of processes necessary to keep you alive, and somehow generates conciousness and a sense of self. Oh and in between all that work keeping you alive, it finds the time to dream.
> 
> For all its incredible power though, the brain (and mind) are frighteningly easy to fool. Humans are very good at spotting patterns - so good in fact, that we often 'spot' patterns that aren't there. Historically, that's likely due to the need to avoid predators and find food - situations where false positives are inconvenient but false negatives are lethal: "is that a leopard in the bush or is it just a weird shadow from that tree?"
> 
> Imposter Syndrome is a rather nasty manifestation of that bias towards false positives. Granted, it's nowhere near the worst, but it can still have very unpleasant effects. Imposter Syndrome, in short, is what happens when we feed that insidious little bit of self-doubt. The kernel of the idea that we're 'not good enough' for something takes root and we start spotting 'evidence' that lets it grow. Some of it is just cherry-picking things that support our opinion because none of us like being wrong. A lot of it is perceiving things to support the idea when in fact, they are at worst ambiguous, neither supporting nor undermining that position.
> 
> While it's not affected me personally, I know someone who very nearly threw away years of work when she convinced herself that she wasn't good enough to get her degree, despite being on track to do very well. She went on to do as well as I and the rest of her friends expected and then continued into a Masters degree. Humans are generally terrible at judging themselves objectively. We're far more likely to drift into emotionally-governed spirals than we are to behave rationally.
> 
> Always remember that the situation, whatever it is, is almost certainly not as bad as you think. _Listen_ to the opinions of others. Try to appreciate a situation from different points of view. Don't allow self-doubt to rule you.
> 
> To anyone out there who's ever thought they're not good enough for something, I have two questions: have you ever tried it? If you haven't, then how do you know? If you have, why did you fail? Humans are capable of incredible things. If you've tried something in the past and it didn't work out but you want to pursue it: you can. It may take some work, it may take long hours of practise, but unless you want to break the laws of physics, _you can do it_.


	18. Chapter 16: Anxious Bun, Grumpy Foxes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. So um, yeah. Real life just popped up out of nowhere and tackled me like an All Black forward. FYI, I'm a weedy little cyclist with a desk job so a full-on tackle by _any_ international rugby player would _not_ go well for me. For those of you who don't know, the All Blacks are the New Zealand international rugby team who, aside from all being absolute beasts, literally have a war dance they perform before every game.
> 
> It did not go well for me.

Though it was technically the second day of her weekend, the following morning - a cheerily sunny Friday - saw Judy back at Precinct One and knocking on Chief Bogo's office door.

"Come," the buffalo grunted.

Hopping up to grab the handle and swing the door forward in an athletic manoeuvre that she'd long since mastered, Judy pushed her way through the familiar door, bracing herself for inevitable storm.

Bogo looked up and frowned. "Hopps? What are you doing here?"

"Hi Chief," she replied, dropping to the floor and giving the door enough of a shove to close it properly without slamming it. "I wanted to ask you about taking a couple of days off."

Bogo snorted. "That's what MR is for, Hopps. Why are you bothering me?"

She hopped up onto the chair in front of his desk and opened her mouth, then hesitated, suddenly uncertain. "I um, well..." she trailed off and shifted uncomfortably. "I was wondering if I could take tomorrow and Sunday-"

"No." Bogo cut her off before she could finish. "I am not a way for you to get around the requirement for you to request leave in advance, Hopps," he said with a paint-peeling glare. "And you should know better than to abuse the leeway I've given you after Bellweather."

Judy cringed, realising that she'd perhaps not phrased that in the best possible way. Deciding to cut straight to the point, she blurted, "I'm worried about Nick, Sir."

Bogo raised an eyebrow, his expression dark.

"He called me last night, panicking," she hurriedly explained before the Chief could do anything else. "He was doubting himself and he sounded very highly-strung, Sir. I don't think I can wait two weeks to calm him down. He'll probably have dropped out by then."

Bogo's expression was still stormy, but at least he didn't seem ready to squash her any more. "Are his concerns valid? Is dropping out the right thing for him to do?"

Judy shook her head vigorously. "No, Sir, absolutely not!" she exclaimed heatedly. "His self-confidence took a hit yesterday, that's all. It was the fire exercise with the ZFD and a mammal got past him. Now he's beating himself up for 'letting someone's mother burn alive' because they got through."

"Hmm." The chief sat back, inspecting her. "And why do you need to go deal with this? What about one of the instructors? Don't you think other mammals will be able to handle it?"

"Sir, Nick is a very private mammal," she explained. "I know he's made a few friends at the academy, but I doubt he'd be willing to open up to them about something like this. And if an instructor hasn't noticed it already, odds are they won't know about it unless one of us tells them." She paused to look the chief in the eye. "And in that case I'm certain Nick would take it as both an invasion of privacy and a betrayal."

Bogo scrutinised her for a minute longer, then sighed and leaned forward, shuffling through several papers. Glancing at one he nodded, apparently having confirmed something. "No," he said flatly.

Judy's jaw dropped along with her ears. "But Sir!" she yelped.

"No, Hopps!" Bogo thundered. "I will _not_ give you two days off just so you can pull a struggling fox through the academy by the scruff of his neck!"

Unable to find her tongue, all she could do was gape at her boss in outrage, sure she had heard a subtle emphasis on the word 'fox'. Her indignation grew as the corners of Bogo's mouth lifted slightly in a hint of a smile.

"However," he said in a more normal voice. "Given Captain Gordon's endorsement of your proposed changes to the academy syllabi, it _would_ be appropriate for you to spend a couple of days at the academy to brief the instructors there and get their feedback."

Judy blinked twice then managed to close her mouth.

"If I were to send you out there though, I'd need to arrange something for your partner."

Judy shook her head, regaining the use of her voice. "No, Sir, I've already spoken to Nadine. She's happy to spend a couple of days catching up on paperwork and provide support from the station."

Bogo raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

She nodded in affirmation. "Yes, Sir."

"Very well then. Your assignment for Saturday and Sunday is to brief the ZPA instructors on your proposed training changes and get their opinions." He looked at her pointedly. "You will be working, so you will be in uniform. There will be no wasting time on the clock and I expect a report when you get back. What you choose to do off the clock while there is none of my concern."

"Thank you, Sir!" Judy stood and saluted.

Bogo snorted. "Can that. You're off duty and out of uniform, Hopps." He nodded towards the door.

Sliding down from the chair, Judy turned and walked away. Just as she reached the door though, the chief spoke again.

"Hopps."

She turned back to him and waited for him to continue.

"Get receipts for the train tickets. You're travelling for work so that's a business expense."

Surprised, she nodded. "Yes, Sir."

" **If** " Bogo added, "you are on time on both Saturday and Monday. Arrive after your shift starts on either day and I won't approve that expense request."

"Yes, Sir," she nodded again.

Bogo waved her towards the door, dismissing her once more.

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_This shouldn't be so terrifying!_

Judy had been staring at the innocuous wooden door for over two minutes now but hadn't yet mustered the nerve to actually knock. The plan was simple enough in theory: Nick regretted falling out with his mum and helping rebuild that bridge would take some stress off him; one doughnut-bribed Clawhauser later and here she was, outside the one apartment in the city listed as having a Mrs Vivian Wilde as a resident. The trouble, really, was that as always, the devil was in the details: she had no idea what she was going to say now.

That wasn't quite true - she did know more or less what she wanted to say. The hard part was making sure it worked. Resisting the urge to groan, facepaw, or start thumping her foot in agitation - or do all three at once for that matter - Judy took a deep breath then took two steps forward and knocked on the door.

_Committed now. Gotta see this through, Judy,_ she encouraged herself.

Her keen ears picked up the sound of clawed paws approaching the door, faint pops indicating a carpet or rug. There was a metallic scraping above her head - presumably the cover for the peephole she'd spotted being slid to one side - then a huff from the other side before the scraping repeated. Concerned that the vixen thought someone had knocked on her door then run away, Judy knocked again before she had a chance to leave her door.

She caught some muffled grumbling before the door opened a few centimetres, apparently being held there by a security chain. A brilliant, familiar green eye appeared in the gap then narrowed in confusion as it settled on her.

"A bunny?" The vixen's voice was puzzled more than curious and more than a little rough - enough that Judy suspected she might be either ill or recovering from something.

"Missus Wilde?" she asked hopefully, more to confirm it and be polite than out of any real need to know; that eye colour was unmistakable.

The eye narrowed, the fiery fur around it becoming less visible as its owner pulled back slightly, as though readying herself to slam the door. "What do you want?" There was not a trace of friendliness in her voice now and Judy wondered what was going on in her personal life to warrant that kind of reaction to a stranger asking her name.

"Missus Wilde," she began again, taking the lack of denial as good enough confirmation, "I'd like to speak to you about your son-"

The vixen's eye narrowed dangerously as she cut Judy off. "Whatever that _boy_ 's gotten mixed up in now, I want nothing to do with it. Or him."

Judy's heart sank, having hoped for a better response. "No ma'am," she began, "he's not-"

The brilliant green eye abruptly widened in surprise. " _Hopps_!" she spat, then slammed the door in Judy's face.

Judy recoiled, taken aback by the sudden motion and the loud bang. Recovering, she knocked again. "Missus Wilde-"

"Get outta here, _rabbit_ ," the vixen growled. "I'll call the-" What was presumably a threat to call the police died half-formed as she seemed to remember who it was she was trying to shut out. "Just leave. I've got _nothing_ to say to you."

Her expression and optimism falling further, along with her ears, it was only the thought of how much this would mean to Nick that allowed her to push through her shame. "I'm sorry!" she called through the door. "I'm sorry, Missus Wilde, but _please_ , I'm trying to help your son!" Though she'd caught the sound of the vixen retreating further into the apartment as she'd started, a faint ember of hope bloomed as she stopped.

She spoke then, in a low, dangerous growl. "Whatever's got you on the case, whatever he's done... _I don't care_. I'm not paying his bail or hiring a lawyer or anything. So get lost."

"No, Missus Wilde, it's not like that," Judy said quickly. "He's not in trouble."

"Is he dead then?" The question was harsh, jarringly emotionless. Although it made Judy flinch, her time exposed to Nick led her to suspect the question meant more than the tone implied.

_Well, that's three for three on foxes who don't like me to start with,_ she thought morosely. _And two for two on city foxes who like hiding their emotions._

"No, Missus Wilde," she replied quickly, hoping to set her at ease. "He's actually doing well and-"

"You've gotten involved in one of his scams?" came the incredulous question. "Damn, rabbit, are you _trying_ to be a dumb bunny or something?"

Judy bristled a bit at that but refused to rise to the provocation, determined to see this through. "No, _ma'am_ ," she said, a hint of coolness creeping into her voice despite her best efforts. "I'm not involved in any scam. And nor is Nick." She pushed on before the crotchety old vixen could rip into her again. "He's in training for his new job at the moment and he's starting to panic a bit from the stress. I'm going to visit him this evening and try to calm him down because I _know_ he can do it." Surprised that the grouchy vixen hadn't interrupted her, she continued carefully and more softly. "Missus Wilde, I don't know exactly what happened between you two, but I do know that he regrets it. I don't know what you want either, but I'm _sure_ that Nick desperately wants a chance; just a chance to speak to you one more time."

The door was silent for a minute. "Get out of here, rabbit," the vixen growled, low and threatening. "I told you: I want _nothing_ do with him."

Judy opened her mouth though she didn't know what she was going to say. Nothing came out and she closed it, slumping in defeat with a melancholy sigh. She stepped forward once more and bent down, sliding the envelope she'd been clutching under the door then stood and turned to leave.

"Please, missus Wilde," she said once more - against her better judgement and despite the emotion clearly audible in her voice. "Just give him one more chance. I _promise_ he's changed." She scurried away without waiting for an answer.

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Nick sat down at their usual table in the cafeteria with a weary sigh then stretched elaborately, playing up the image. He was far from fresh of course, but nothing like as exhausted as he was portraying. He'd been thinking hard all day, almost to the point of distraction, and tiredness was a great excuse for looking somewhat out of it.

Sam - the only one of their group already there - looked up at him as he arrived. She looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. "Okay, Nick. Spill," she demanded.

"What?"

"Something's bugging you. Something's been bugging you _all day_."

He shook his head, not bothering to hide his flash of irritation. " _Nothing_ ," he grumbled. "Just tired."

She raised a paw and opened her mouth again.

" _Sam_ ," he said roughly. "Leave it. I'm just tired."

The lynx studied him with narrowed eyes. "All right," she said at last. Leaning back and relaxing, she picked up her fork. "But if you want to talk-"

He cut her off, waving his paw dismissively and turning his attention to his own plate. She was getting better at hiding her thoughts and feelings but he could still read her well enough to know she was irritated with his evasion and still wanted to push for answers.

_And there's another problem with_ friends _,_ he sneered to himself. _They pry and feel like they're_ entitled _to it. This is why it's a bad idea you idiot._ Judy's heart was in the right place, he knew, and he didn't resent her for pushing him to open up a bit but his life had been a _lot_ easier, a lot less complicated, before he'd tried the whole 'friends' thing. _She might be a special case,_ he mused. _But really that's mostly because she can read me too well. Everyone else though..._

Nick jerked as a hoof jabbed him in the side. He'd been so absorbed in his thoughts and staring at his plate that he'd not noticed Charlotte or Tony arriving, or Major Friedkin for that matter.

"-so we'll be changing up the schedule a bit," the polar bear was saying, loudly enough for the whole cafeteria to hear. "Tomorrow'll be a day out on the courses with Monday getting the classroom stuff. Sunday morning PT and afternoon off hasn't changed." She looked around and, apparently satisfied, turned to leave.

"Wonder who it is?" Charlotte mused.

"What?" Nick asked, his brow crinkling in confusion.

Charlotte rolled her eyes and snorted. "You _really_ weren't paying attention were you?"

He shot her a not entirely playful glare but Sam spoke up before he could say anything.

"We've got an officer visiting for a couple of days," she explained. "Friedkin didn't say who it was, just that 'she' made valedictorian and will be helping with some of the training while she's here."

"Ah," Nick responded non-committally. It didn't seem like something to get excited about.

"I wonder if that's normal?" Tony asked. "It might be cool to be invited back for a couple of days at some point."

Charlotte shrugged dismissively. "Who cares? I'm more interested in _who_ it's gonna be!"

"Well, of the last five years, there were only two female valedictorians," Sam said nonchalantly. Nick's ear twitched; that nonchalance sounded a little forced to him - could their resident badass be getting excited about this? "Four years ago it was a tigress, Nadine Fangmeyer. And of course, last year: Judy Hopps."

Though he hadn't really been paying attention, Nick had had to force his ears not to perk when he heard Nadine's name and it was only because he knew who the only other option was that he was able to stop his ears from twitching spastically at Judy's name. They wanted to perk at the thought of Judy visiting; they wanted to lay flat back at the thought of what she must think of him now.

"No shit‽" Tony exclaimed. "Wait, how'd you know that?"

"Come on, everyone knows about Hopps." Tony had to shrug and nod, granting her that. "And I took a look at some of the records here." Though her voice was calm, Nick caught her tail flicking erratically out of the corner of his eye. Though he wasn't really feeling up to it, he was tempted to press her a little just to see what kind of reaction he'd get.

Charlotte though, had apparently been paying attention too, because she called the lynx out before he could make up his mind. " _And?_ " she asked, stretching the word out in a slow drawl.

Trying to play cool, Sam shrugged. "And nothing. I was curious."

Charlotte looked at her intently, clearly trying to find the right angle from which to push. Tony had sat up and was regarding her suspiciously too. With a sigh, Nick decided to put them all out of their misery.

"Nadine Fangmeyer," be began, sounding bored. "Tigress; one of Precinct One's best officers, and as far as I know, quite the badass. Could our tough-girl lynx have a big, strong, stripy orange idol?"

Sam raised an eyebrow as she looked over at him, doing her best to ask 'seriously?' with her expression. Unfortunately for her though, Charlotte caught the slight widening of her eyes just before she got her features under control.

"Oh. Em. Gee!" she squealed, drawing the attention of the nearest three or four tables.

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"Wilde," a gruff voice called from the dormitory door. "Major wants a word."

Hauling himself up into a sitting position, Nick shot the bulky elk - one of the SWAT instructors - a disbelieving glare. "Now?" He'd just gotten to bed, lights-out was rapidly approaching, and the academy staff were not well-known for their tolerance of after-dark activities of any sort.

The elk didn't say anything, just continued to stand in the doorway, watching him. With a sigh, Nick dragged himself out of bed and slid down to the floor. Grabbing a set of tracksuit bottoms and a now rather worn ZPA hoodie, he quickly made himself not entirely un-presentable before leaving with the elk. His guide didn't offer a word in conversation and Nick, half out of sullenness and half out of lethargy, was completely fine with that.

Barely a minute later they were outside Friedkin's office. The elk looked at him pointedly and Nick raised his paw to knock. The elk left as soon it touched the door and he was left waiting for only a moment before being called in.

Major Friedkin was sat behind her desk as he'd expected. What he hadn't expected was for her to be leaning back in her chair, fingers steepled under her chin, scrutinising him intently. Somewhat unnerved, he carefully closed the door and nodded in greeting.

"Major."

"Wilde," she responded, her tone flat, giving nothing away. Nick started to get a bad feeling about this meeting, one which only grew as she gestured to the chair in front of her desk. "Sit."

He pulled himself up onto the large chair and waited for her to say something else, fighting the urge to squirm under her gaze.

After a full minute of silence, the polar bear finally spoke. "It's been brought to my attention that you've not been struggling a bit for the past couple of days."

_Shit! I'm getting the book thrown at me. Sorry, Judy, I guess I did flunk out._ He lowered his head, unable to maintain his customary mask in the face of that crushing sensation of failure but not wanting to let Friedkin see it. He closed his eyes and let out his breath, waiting for the hammer blow.

"Wilde."

He didn't move; he couldn't.

" _Wilde_." It was sterner this time, more of an order.

He took a deep breath and another moment to try to compose his face but there was no denying that tone. Slowly, painfully slowly, his eyes opened as his head lifted. To his utter surprise, Friedkin didn't look angry; her expression was... compassionate?

"Have a drink," she offered.

Nick could only blink dumbly at that. _What‽_

The Major reached down into one of her desk drawers and pulled out two glasses - small for her, on the large side for him - and a bottle of whiskey. She poured herself a decent measure then tilted the bottle towards him. When he didn't react she raised an eyebrow then shrugged, placing the bottle down and turning back to the drawer.

"If that's not your thing, I got some half-decent brandy in here... Let's see, oh damn, I forgot to put that vodka back in the freezer-"

"Um, ah, _what‽_ " was the best he could manage. "Er, ma'am, sorry, but... What's going on?"

She looked up at him flatly. "I'm offering you a drink."

"Um, I-" he took a breath, shaking his head to try clearing what had to be some kind of hallucination out of it. "Look, Major," he said stiffly, "this is _really_ not what I expected-"

She lifted a large paw, cutting him off. "A big part of your problem, Wilde, is everything going on up here," she said slowly, tapping the side of her head with one large claw. "Forget what you _think_ is going on and accept what _is_ happening: you're not in trouble; you're here because I want to talk to you; and I'm offering you a drink."

Still struggling to process what was going on, Nick slowly leant back in the chair, somehow even more confused. "Um, whiskey's fine, ma'am."

She grunted and leant forward, picking up the bottle and pouring a measure into his glass. It was very small for her of course, but still slightly larger than fox-sized. She put the bottle away and lifted her glass. "Cheers."

He picked up his glass, having to stretch his paw around it, and returned the salute. He didn't drink though, just cupped the glass in both paws as the sharp smell of alcohol invaded his nose.

"Okay, listen up, Wilde," Major Friedkin began a moment later, having downed a respectable swallow of her drink. "Business first: you're not in trouble; you're not washing out; there's no bad news of any sort, in fact."

He shifted in the chair. "So why am I here?"

"Because," the Major said heavily, "more than one mammal has come to me, concerned with how you're doing." She looked at him appraisingly for a moment before continuing. "You've been doing pretty well so far but your friends are worried about how yesterday's exercise seems to have gotten to you."

He wanted to growl at the idea of Sam, and probably Charlotte too, betraying him like that but honestly couldn't muster the energy. He did manage a sigh though. "I messed up," he admitted with a shrug.

"You let _one_ mammal get past you," Friedkin acknowledged. "Do you know who else let _one_ mammal past?"

He shook his head miserably. "Nobody?" he guessed.

"That's right, nobody." A pause. "Do you know how many cadets let _nobody_ past?"

He shook his head again, silently this time.

" _One_."

He stiffened in surprise and peered at the bear's face, searching for any hint she was lying.

"Your partner was the only cadet to have no mammals get past her." Major Friedkin smiled thinly. "And from what the ZFD instructors tell me, that's only because _you_ were helping her _a lot_ , taking the difficult mammals off her hooves and somehow smooth-talking just about all of them down."

"Are you... saying-"

" _Every_ other cadet, including that hotshot Carter, let _at least_ two mammals get past them." She looked at him seriously. "That whole exercise is _designed_ as an absolute worst-case scenario," she explained. "You don't have a street network and other buildings limiting access so there are many more approaches than you'd ever see in the city. There aren't nearly enough ZPA cadets to cover that many approaches so for each of you, it feels like there are random mammals popping up everywhere and by the time you stop one, two others are already coming in.

"On top of that, you're stationed fairly near to a very large, and very realistic fire, which I imagine is a first for most - if not all - of you. You've got ZFD running around, a bunch of different mammals on the radio and even a fake news crew sailing around. Then there's the instructors keeping an eye on things and making sure everyone stays safe. It's a hell of a lot to keep track of and I'm damn impressed with you."

Nick was staring at her wide-eyed by this point, not really believing what he was hearing. _I was second-best in that? I did better than_ Sam _? Friedkin's openly admitting she's_ impressed _with me?_

Before he could muster a response there was a knock at the door. Major Friedkin stood, downing the remains of her whiskey, then headed around the desk toward the door. Taking a decent gulp of his own drink, Nick grimaced at the strong taste then placed the glass back on the table before dropping to the floor and turning to follow the bear. She opened the door and nodded at whoever had knocked, then stepped aside.

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"Hi, Nick," Judy said sweetly, fighting not to giggle at the fox's dumbstruck face. He didn't respond so she gave him a little wave.

He shook himself slightly and blinked rapidly before peering at her. "Judy?" he asked incredulously.

She turned to look up at Major Friedkin, offering a smile and a nod as an abbreviated greeting. The big bear returned both, then gestured her into the room. Gratefully stepping past her, she crossed over to the frozen fox and pulled him into a hug. "Hey, Slick," she said softly.

It took him a moment, but then he was returning the embrace and she sighed contentedly as he spoke. "What are you doing here?" he asked, apparently too off-balance to hide the wonder in his voice.

She pulled back enough for him to see her smile. "Weeell..." she began teasingly. "Bogo may or may not have said something about not letting me pull a silly fox through the academy by his tail."

His eyes widened. "Did you sneak out here? Are you gonna be in trouble tomorrow? What-"

She cut him off with a paw on his nose and a playful laugh. "No, silly, it's all fine." She took a step back to look him in the eye without either of them needing to bend their necks uncomfortably, a little shiver running down her spine as his paws slid along her sides. "Officially, I'm here to talk to the academy staff about new training syllabi for smaller mammals," she explained seriously. "I've got two days here, on the job, to deal with that."

She paused, glancing over her shoulder at the Major. The big bear winked at her but didn't say anything.

"If that goes smoothly I might also help out with some of the training," she continued, turning back to Nick. "And, since I'll be here for two full days, I'll have some time off the clock to hang out with my friend as well." She finished with a bright smile before pulling him back into another hug.

"Fluff... I-"

Nick was cut off by the major clearing her throat. "We _are_ past lights out," she said mildly.

Judy pulled back once more and turned to her. "Of course. I'll be back in a minute." The bear nodded and began to make her way back to her desk.

"Come on," Judy said, pulling on Nick's paw. He practically stumbled after her, barely managing to keep his feet as she all but dragged him out of the office. She didn't head straight for the male dorm though, instead making for the cafeteria. The walk was silent: she didn't want to talk out in the open and he was either too surprised to talk or he shared her desire for privacy.

Pushing her way into the familiar room, Judy made her way to the nearest table. She had to guide Nick onto the bench before she hopped up onto the table, sitting on the edge, placing them at each others' eye level. The poor fox still looked a little out of it, she thought. "Hey, Slick," she said, barely above a whisper.

He reached out unsteadily, placing a paw on her shoulder. "Judy?" he asked, equally quiet. "Are you really here? Or is this a dream?"

For some reason a warm lump seemed to settle in her belly at that, almost as if she'd swallowed a hot sweet. She found herself smiling as tendrils of warmth grew out through her body. Nick continued before she had a chance to do more than bask in the sensation for a brief moment.

"This has to be a dream. I was in trouble and then the Reaper had a bar inside her desk and now you're here? Gods, is this a nightmare or a nice dream? Or am I so out of it that I can't even dream straight?"

She shook her head gently, smiling happily at him and lifted her own paw to place it over his. "I'm here, Nick." She tried to put as much conviction into her voice as she could. "You needed some help so I came to help you."

His ears wilted at that and he looked down into his lap, his paw falling away from her shoulder. "I don't deserve your help, Carrots," he said miserably.

"Oh for crying out loud," she snapped. Nick curled into himself slightly, clearly misunderstanding. "Nick," she said sternly. "You deserve _so_ much better than you've ever got." She paused, momentarily uncertain, then forged on. "And even if _you_ don't think I should help you, it's _my choice_ who I help. Don't you dare try to tell me what I should do."

Though he was still looking down, she caught the slight quirk at the side of his muzzle. "Yes ma'am, bunny cop." She snorted softly but smiled at the hint of playfulness creeping back into him. "Dream or not, Judy," he said heavily, "thank you for being here."

She slid down onto the bench to stand next to him and hugged him once more, resting her head on his shoulder and squeezing comfortingly. It was obvious she wasn't going to get through to him any more tonight. "Come on, foxy," she crooned. "Let's get you back to the dorm."

Several minutes later, foxless, she was back in Major Friedkin's office, smiling sheepishly at the bear's raised eyebrow. "Sorry," she offered lamely.

The Major's face relaxed into a smile. "Don't worry," she said, waving the issue aside. "How've you been, Hopps?"

"Busy," she said truthfully. "I've been partnered up with Nadine Fangmeyer and she and the Chief are both pushing me pretty hard." She smiled reassuringly. "Making friends though, and enjoying the job."

The Major looked at her appraisingly. "Are we okay?" she asked eventually. "Some mammals find it difficult coming back and-"

Judy shook her head. "If you hadn't pushed me as hard as you did, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be here, Major."

There was a moment's silence. "Ursula," she said, holding out a paw, one finger extended.

Judy smiled and took the proffered digit. "Judy."

"Alright, Judy," Ursula said with a smile. "We'll have plenty of time to catch up later and I _do_ want to go through some of the stuff you've got but we're both on duty in the morning so let me show you to your room."

She stood and Judy did the same, following the bear out of her office and through the halls of the academy. She was surprisingly quiet given her size which, coupled with the low lighting and complete silence filling the rest of the building, discouraged talking. They arrived in the section of the building where the instructors had their rooms and came to a stop outside one of the doors.

"You remember what time breakfast is?" she asked quietly.

Judy nodded, the schedule still burned into her mind.

"Alright, your bag should already be in there. I'll be up for a little while yet so come grab me if you need anything urgent. Three doors down," she finished with a nod along the hall.

"Thanks," Judy replied. "See you in the morning."

Ursula nodded then padded away down the hall.

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Though the instructors' rooms weren't meant to be particularly luxurious, it was hard for a bun not to feel spoiled and pampered there. The 'room' was really a small studio apartment: one large main room with a bed, a small chest of drawers, and a wardrobe; a desk off to one side with a kitchenette on the other; and a small private bathroom. Waking up under a gloriously thick and warm duvet, on a bed with more square footage than her own place, turned out to be one hell of an incentive to not get up. Especially since the mattress was perfect. Intended for someone much larger, it was delightfully firm under her slight weight and just soft enough for her to leave a small indentation. Unlike her own ancient, decrepit thing, there wasn't even the slightest trace of a spring poking into the surface or any hint of them creaking away as she shifted.

So tempting. But alas, it wasn't to be. Sitting up and stretching with a yawn, Judy glanced at the clock on the wall above the desk. She had an hour until breakfast. Considering her options for a moment, she eventually decided to forgo her usual morning run - she'd probably be getting plenty of exercise today anyway - and chose to indulge herself with an extended shower. Though it had taken a bit of effort to get the shower door open and closed, and a somewhat ungraceful leap to turn the thing on, the reward was oh so worth the effort. The shower head was so large it was like standing in gentle tropical rain shower, water completely surrounding her - though without the pounding weight of a waterfall. Basking in the warmth, Judy decided, right then and there, that she'd be getting an apartment sized for larger mammals as soon as she could afford it.

Stepping out from under the streams of water to scrub conditioner into her fur, she let her eyes drift shut and hummed happily. _I have to thank Nick for freaking out,_ she thought to herself, amused by the thought of how confused he'd be when she did. She stiffened suddenly, mortified as a burst of heat bloomed low in her belly in response to her scrubbing. _Ooooooh no! Absolutely_ not _. Not in a shower at the academy with who knows how many predators wandering around!_

Covered in a layer of slick conditioner, she reluctantly acknowledged that it would be silly to risk jumping to turn down the heat now. Grimacing, she rubbed her legs down as quickly as she could and moved back under the water. Lifting her head to allow the streams to clean the conditioner off her face and away from her eyes first, she rubbed her arms down before leaning forward and squeezing some of the water out of the fur around her eyes. Glancing down, she decided that the over-sized shower had cleaned off enough of the conditioner for her to risk a jump.

Turning she leapt, grabbing onto the vertical bar upon which the shower head could move up and down. She half pouted, half grimaced as she turned the temperature down, feeling it from there as the water cooled. Dropping down, she was careful to land on both front paws and a knee, making sure her landing was as stable as possible. With a snarl of discomfort she flung herself under the water, now unpleasantly similar to the rain she'd expect from a storm in Bunnyburrow. She rinsed off the remaining conditioner as fast as she could, careful with her paws, before leaping for the shower controls once more.

Shoving the door open, she hopped out and hauled it closed before turning to the towel rail with a grimace. Yes, she was going to get a lot of exercise today. Suppressing a shiver, she reached out and tugged at the corner of the towel, which happened to be just within reach. It didn't move.

"Come _on_!" she grumbled, exasperated, and tugged again. With a soft 'thwump', the entire thing slid off the rail and onto her.

She stood there, foot rapidly tapping as she bit her lip to avoid cursing the stupid thing in frustration. How could a morning turn around so damn fast? Despite the frustration, she found herself mellowing somewhat as the towel insulated her from the cool air and she started to warm up again. Her foot froze, her eyes, closed in frustration, popped open in the dark, and her ears made a valiant attempt to lift the towel off her as she realised the effect the vibration of her thumping was having on her.

Top three worst things about being a bunny - in no particular order: being constantly underestimated; being called cute all the damn time; and, well... It was hardly a secret, but it was quite easy to get a rabbit going, and equally hard to cool them down when that happened.

Desperately, she thought hard about her second morning on the force, giving out parking tickets and being yelled at by everyone, a faint tickle of doubt in the back of her mind that this was all she'd ever be allowed to do. She sighed in relief as she felt her body cooling but sighed, knowing she'd have to be extra careful for the next little while; it wouldn't do to turn up to breakfast like that. Hopefully once the day started properly she'd be too busy with other things for it to come back.

She focused on what she was here for as she dried and dressed herself. She'd not only be making the world a better place for Nick, but hopefully she'd be able to help some of the other cadets too if Maj- Ursula was as good as her word on allowing her to help. And if she managed that, she'd be making the world a better place for every mammal each of those cadets might help in the future. Grinning happily, she gave her badge its customary polish before heading out to start her day.

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Nick groaned as he stretched in the shower. The six AM run might be great for his physical fitness but morning definitely wasn't his preferred time to do it. It probably didn't help that-

"Feeling the showing off, huh, Nick?" Tony asked.

Nick glanced over at the lion and let out a growl of annoyance. The big cat laughed, clearly not intimidated in the slightest.

"Seriously though, nice job. Didn't expect you to beat Sam at the end there."

He grunted then shoved his head back under the water, careful to perk his ears so they began to fill with water. He heard Tony say something else but the water muffled his voice into an indistinguishable babble. In truth, he _was_ pleased with how he'd done. They hadn't been on the full PT course this morning, just out for a simple five mile run and he'd settled into his usual spot near the middle of the pack with comfortable familiarity.

Unlike the last few days though, he found himself eyeing the front of the group. Sam and the jaguar, Grant, out in front as usual. Charlotte and a couple of wolves close behind, the zebra's relatively long legs allowing her to keep pace with the predators. Major Friedkin's words from the night before had run through his mind once more - _"including that hotshot Carter"_ and _"I'm damn impressed with you"_. Suddenly, middle of the pack just wasn't good enough. They had a little over two miles to go and he'd lengthened his stride slightly, picking up the cadence too. It hadn't been enough to be really obvious, but with every pace he was gaining on the front runners.

Several minutes later, at the one mile mark, he'd been level with Charlotte, who was so focused on maintaining her own pace she didn't notice him. A minute later, he could have taken Grant out with a diving tackle if he'd wanted to. With a quarter mile to go, he'd been level with the jaguar, breathing hard and feeling like his legs were literally on fire. Grant had glanced over at him, astonishment clear on his face, before he tripped spectacularly and went flying.

Nick didn't spare him a glance, focused solely on the bobbing lynx tail just ahead of him. With a hundred metres to go he was level with Sam and broke into a dead sprint. He would have screamed from the exertion if he'd had the spare air as she put on some speed too, determined not to let him past and lose her one hundred percent record. A dozen metres and they were still level. He forced his tired legs to move even faster, somehow not tripping over his own paws as he pushed himself to his absolute limit.

The line flashed past and he slowed sharply, practically collapsing as he stumbled to a halt and bent over, panting. He held the position for only a few seconds before he flopped down onto his side then turned onto his back. His tongue lolled out and his eyes fluttered as he lay there gasping for breath, heart pounding at what had to be an unhealthy rate. A tufted paw entered his field of view then.

"Come on," came Sam's voice, though she was still clearly panting herself. "You know. Better. Than to. Just. Lie down."

Groaning internally because he lacked the air to do it out loud, Nick reluctantly lifted a leaden paw and allowed her to pull him to his feet. They walked unsteadily around the finish area for a couple of minutes - though in his case it was more hobbling than walking - as everyone else, including a rather grassy Grant, finished. Once everyone was there, Major Friedkin spoke up.

"Not bad, cadets. Wilde, congratulations on being the first to beat Carter."

He blinked in shock, not having expected that.

"Since you're familiar with the routine, Carter, you still lead the cool-down."

Sam nodded and the bear turned to walk back inside. The lynx grinned down at him. "Damn, Nick. Didn't think you got me."

He shook his head. "Neither. Did I," he panted.

It was all Judy's fault, of course. He'd been sure that last night had been some weird not-nightmare and then he'd woken up this morning, feeling more energetic than he expected to, and wearing the tracksuit from the dream. The faint scent of rabbit clung to it too and he'd frozen for a full minute as the implications of that set it. She really was here. She came all the way here to help him because she still believed in him. He knew how important her job was to her, how driven she was to 'make the world a better place'. If she was taking any kind of a break from that for him...

He wasn't failing; he was doing well. It wasn't just Judy that thought it either - if she was here then the conversation with Friedkin had been real too. For the first time in days a grin slowly found its way onto his muzzle. Hatefully early though it might be, if she really was here, she _really_ thought he could do this. There was no way she'd risk her job for a lost cause. Maybe, _just maybe_ , she and the Major were right. Maybe he _could_.

That had been his state of mind going into the run and sore though he now was, he couldn't hold in a pleased smile at his achievement. Not only had he beaten Sam in the ZFD exercise, but now he'd beaten her on home turf with nothing tipping the balance towards either of them. As impossible as the idea had seemed just a day ago, Nick actually found himself somewhat optimistic. Yes, his time in the academy hadn't gone perfectly, but when did _anything_ last go perfectly? His wonderful pawpsicle hustle had been derailed by a mad rabbit, of all things, after all.

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Judy found herself _tingling_ as she walked into the cafeteria for breakfast. She smiled around the room fondly, spotting Nick at a table in the far corner and several of her old instructors at another, nearer the front. Helping herself to some cereal, a couple of apples, and very fresh-smelling half cucumber she turned to the tables then hesitated. _Am I_ allowed _to sit with the cadets?_

A shadow fell over her and she looked up over her shoulder into Ursula's grinning face. "Sit where you want, Hopps. There's no rules on seating here; just remember they're not actually officers yet and some might still drop out." Judy nodded and smiled in thanks. "And you might want to change before we head out," the bear added with a grin.

"Change?" Judy frowned. "I thought we were supposed to go over the training-"

Ursula cut her off. "Tomorrow this lot have a half-day of PT which we can play by ear and an afternoon off, which we can definitely use if we need to. Today, they're out on the courses and I want you there too. Both to help keep an eye and to see for yourself how other mammals approach the training. It's no good making recommendations if you don't know what's happening now."

Judy reluctantly nodded in agreement. She'd been hoping to use the more relaxed Sunday to spend more time with Nick, but Ursula made sense.

"Cheer up, bunny," she said with a wink. "We should cover most of what we need to today." She turned and left before Judy could respond.

Shaking her head in slight confusion, Judy turned back around and headed for the table where Nick was sitting. Though he looked tired, he noticeably perked up as she approached, turning in his seat with a small, fragile smile on his muzzle.

"Hey, Carrots."

She hopped up onto the bench beside him then, as had become her habit in her own time as a cadet, jumped again, parking herself on the edge of the table. "Hey, Slick," she said with a smile. She glanced around meaningfully.

"Oh, right, yeah," Nick caught on. "Officer Judy Hopps, meet cadets Charlotte Grazefield, Tony Griffith, Gunther Urstein, and Sam Carter" He pointed to each mammal as he introduced them, starting with the zebra sitting to his right and continuing around the table with a lion, bear, and lynx. She nodded at each of them as they were named, smiling politely the whole while - though her ears twitched as she caught a faint snort from the bear when it was his turn.

"Off- Er- Ma'am um-"

"Relax," Judy said with a slight laugh as the zebra tried to speak. "I may have a big case under my belt and you may know me by reputation, but I'm just a mammal, just an ordinary rabbit."

"Country bunny girl from waaaaay out in the sticks, actually," Nick interjected with a smirk.

She ignored him. "Give it a month and you'll be qualified officers as well. Don't tell me you're gonna try calling me ma'am when we're the same as far as status goes?"

"Um, I, well, no."

"Good!" she chirped. "If you wouldn't do it then, then don't do it now. You guys are only a month away from graduating. That's close enough, right?" There were a few half-hearted nods which she acknowledged with an internal eye roll. _Sheesh, it's not like I'm Gazelle or anything. Just relax, will you?_ "So, I'm an Officer, you guys are Officers; we're all just mammals having breakfast, okay?"

Charlotte nodded cautiously, as if still getting used to the idea. "Um, okay, ah, Off-"

Judy cut her off with an eye roll and stuck out her paw. "Judy," she said simply.

The zebra stared at her paw for a moment as if she had no idea what to do with it. She slowly extended a hoof. "Charlotte."

Judy smiled at her and repeated the process with the others. Again, the bear - Gunther - caught her attention as somewhat surly. She tried to brush it off, determined not to fall into the trap of making specist assumptions again, but still...

"Okay, so, um, Judy," Charlotte began again once she was done. Judy nodded encouragingly. "Did, um, did Nick really just call you _Carrots_?"

Judy rolled her eyes at the question, exaggerating the motion so none of them could possibly miss it. "Yeah," she said with a long-suffering sigh.

"And you let him get away with it?" Charlotte seemed genuinely curious.

"Eeeh." Judy lifted a paw and waved it slightly. "Kind of. I mostly just gave up on stopping him half an hour into knowing him. Plus, I learned to never feed the snark monster. Last thing we need is a giant fox stomping around the city terrorising us all with jokes as bad as his dress sense."

"Hey!" Nick yelped as Charlotte laughed.

There was a suppressed snort from Sam too. "Sorry," she said, not sounding very sorry. "But I can just picture an elephant-sized fox without a clue what he's doing wandering through the city."

Charlotte giggled at that and Nick rolled his eyes, busying himself with his food instead of replying.

"Or Bunnyburrow," Judy supplied with a grin of her own.

"Girls!" Nick exclaimed in desperation as Sam started chuckling. "Stop, please! What did I do to deserve getting ganged up on?"

Charlotte opened her mouth to add something then froze, her gaze flicking over to Judy.

"Oh come on," she said, exasperated. "I've been through the academy as well. You think I didn't keep _any_ of the sense of humour? I've also been mixing it up with city lowlifes for months, **and** I'm a _rabbit_. Do you really think I'd get offended by a dirty joke _or_ that I missed that opening deliberately?"

Silence.

"Oh _come **on**_!" Judy exclaimed. "I'm even setting up the jokes now!" There were a few nervous chuckles and she sighed, turning to Nick. "You're losing your touch, Slick. I'd have expected them all to be properly trained in humour by now."

He shrugged. "You should've seen them a few months back, Carrots," he said smoothly. "Trust me, this is an improvement. And I'm only one fox; I can't work miracles."

"I dunno," Sam said before Judy could reply. "You pretty much needed a miracle to beat me this morning."

Judy perked her ears up at that as Nick huffed. "I _didn't_ need a miracle. That was all me, on my own, one hundred percent natural fox ingredients with no artificial colours or preservatives."

"Seriously," Sam grumbled. "You got past me _right_ at the line."

"You normally beat him on the runs?" Judy asked.

Sam nodded and opened her mouth but was cut off by a smug-sounding fox. "Not just me, Carrots. Before this morning she had a hundred percent record for coming first."

Judy raised an eyebrow and cocked an ear. "Sounds like you're not convinced he managed it though," she said to Sam.

The lynx snorted in irritation. "Oh he managed it alright," she grouched, pointing behind Judy.

She turned to see a blown-up still from one of the security cameras stuck to the wall. It clearly showed a fox-coloured blur crossing what she recognised as the finish line for the morning runs. Crossing it about a paw-length ahead of another blur, this one with a distinctly feline tail. Turning back to the table she gently punched Nick's shoulder.

"Nice going, Slick. So you beat the best runner this morning and you did better than me in the fire exercise." She grinned at his startled expression, having fully expected it. "You looking to make valedictorian?"

He shrugged. "Maybe, but I don't really know if I've got a shot. Sam's held that running record for a reason, Charlotte's probably the best of us all at the theory stuff and-"

"Hey, don't sell yourself short," Charlotte interrupted. "I wouldn't be doing so well without you."

Judy tilted her head at that. "What do you mean?"

"He's helped all of us study," the zebra explained. "He turned some of the study days into, like, games and competitions and kept us all going."

Judy looked around the table at the rest of the group, seeing them all nod and murmur in agreement. Even Gunther grunted in what she assumed was agreement. She turned back to Nick, who was studying his plate intently, looking almost embarrassed. "Well look at you, Slick. Not even an Officer yet and already being helpful." She placed a paw on the bottom of his muzzle, tipping his head back so he was forced to look at her. "You're already making the world a better place."

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Judy fell into bed that evening, tired but happy. Ursula and the other instructors she'd spoken to had been more interested in her proposals than she'd expected. She wasn't sure whether it was purely as a result of what she'd achieved, but most of them seemed genuinely interested in exploring the options that smaller mammals could add to law enforcement. The most divisive proposal had actually surprised her - she'd expected the big sticking point would be cost or the limited demand for training smaller mammals. Instead, the issue that caused the most disagreement was the additional self-defence training she wanted to standardise. The problem was the time commitment: the academy was already fast-paced and tough so where and how could they fit in what amounted to an 'introduction to martial arts' course?

Those were issues for another day though. Far more importantly, her dumb fox seemed to be pulling his head out from under his tail. True, she hadn't been able to give him the good news she'd hoped to about his mum, but she'd done what she could there and all that was left was to see if her visit paid off. Even without that though, she'd been careful to spend as much time with him as she could, giving compliments and praise much more freely than the full-time instructors did. It had been great to see his attitude had already improved at breakfast and to her delight, her company and banter seemed to perk him up all the more as the day wore on.

She'd spoken to Ursula and a couple of the other instructors and relayed some of their comments privately. Nick had been taken aback by their assessments and if he was half as smart as he thought he was then he should have figured out what it meant: one of the things that she _hadn't_ shared was that either Sam or him was going to be valedictorian. Nobody else was even close to performing at their overall level, though a few stood out in other areas.

Judy smiled and snuggled under the thick duvet, curling up slightly and catching a faint whiff of fox from her enthusiastic goodnight hug. Her smile broadened and she wiggled slightly, getting comfortable as she warmed up. It had been a good day; tomorrow would be too. She closed her eyes and slowed her breathing, taking long, deep breaths, faint memories of another over-sized bed and a familiar scent tickling at the edges of her mind as she drifted off to sleep.

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The demon rabbit was gone! She was supposed to be on duty yesterday and today but she hadn't appeared. There'd been one rabbit through the doors of Precinct One, a dull and insipid brown thing that held no interest to him.

_Has something happened to her? Has she been hurt?_

Impossible to say. The tigress was still there though, turning up at the expected time both mornings.

_Surely_ She _would know if something had happened. Surely_ She _would have told me._

Difficult though it was to do nothing, it was precisely that which he must do. It would not do to upset _Her_ plans through impatience. The window of opportunity was closing quickly though.

_Should I go to_ Her _again?_ he mused. _No. I prayed only a few days past._ She _would not take kindly to being disturbed again so soon._

His mind made up, he nodded to himself and stood, leaving a couple of bills on the table. Though it grated to leave things half-done, there was no choice. That fox, and more importantly the demon rabbit, _had_ to be here. That was the whole point.

_She_ would wait. He'd be back in the city in a couple of weeks. Of all entities, _She_ could and would wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait; thank you for your patience. Do let me know what you think of the chapter! I'll try to get the next couple out in reasonable time *looks around for any sign of life preparing another tackle*.


	19. Chapter 17: Realities, Warm and Cold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whaddaya mean a month? Nah, mate, your calendar's wrong or you're not reading it properly. Huh? Oh no, look you're confusing weeks and months. I- OH LOOK A DISTRACTION!  
> *scurries away*

The sun beat down on the assembled cadets, surprisingly hot for early April. While most would normally have preferred the warmth to the more typical spring showers, there was a limit to how long they could stand at attention in the heat, especially all wrapped up in their dress uniforms.

Graduation day. The day they'd be closing out a chapter of their lives and preparing to begin another. A day of accolades, congratulations, and celebration. A day of excitement, nerves, and far too much sweat - for those who could.

"Stand aaaaat _ease_!" bellowed Major Friedkin.

Nick's breath huffed out explosively as he relaxed and shifted his left leg to the side. Tempting though it was to ignore proper form, he was careful to remain scrupulous in his presentation, wanting to give the damn bear no excuse to re-start the rehearsal _again_. He could hear whispers around him though, and for a moment he was worried someone was going to get them all another practise round. Then they died away and he realised the whispers were formless - just concealed sighs of relief and the like.

The Major looked down her nose at them, still in her customary - much shorter and cooler - 'trainer' kit. She paused for a few seconds after looking them all over. "Stand _easy_ ," she called, less forcefully than before.

Just about everyone twitched at that. Nick managed to contain his own reaction to a few surprised blinks. He studied the polar bear as closely as he could for a moment then let out another relieved huff and allowed his mouth to drop open as he began to pant. Several of the nearest cadets glanced at him out of the corners of their eyes, and when no reprisal was shouted across the square, took the cue and relaxed to a similar degree.

Of the reactions, Nick silently awarded first place to Tom Greyback, one of their two arctic wolves - though the only one to have actually grown up in an arctic environment. His eyes rolled back as he let out a huge puff of air before bending over, placing his elbows on his knees and opening his jaws as far as he could to pant, his tongue lolling out limply. He would have snickered at the sight, if that wouldn't have required him to stop his own panting.

"Alright, Cadets," the Major called. "That's enough. Fall out, grab yourselves some water, and be back in two minutes," she ordered.

The group immediately broke apart with a happy rumble and a few light-hearted jabs at the canids. Nick licked his dry lips as well as he could while overheating in line then quickly downed a couple of glasses of thankfully chilled water.

 _Just one hour until lunch, then we're on,_ he realised with a jolt. A single hour was all that separated him from his future. He shivered as a tingle raced up and down his spine, tail puffing slightly in response as he did his best to disguise the motion by downing another hefty swallow of cold water.

He hadn't been lying when he told Judy she didn't know how much she'd done for him. In just a few hours time, doors that he'd never imagined would open for him would begin to do exactly that. In just a few hours he'd be able to start burying some old hatchets and healing older wounds. In a few hours, opportunities that he'd never dared dream of might be his.

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Pulling up to the academy in her parents' least dilapidated pick-up, Judy was struck by a sudden burst of deja-vu: aside from the weather, this was almost exactly how she'd arrived at the academy just over a year and a half ago. She was nervous and excited, eager and proud - just as she had been then.

Her father killed the engine and sighed, stretching in his seat. "All right, Jude," he said, turning to look at her. "You go on in and get ready. Your mum and I will head over to our seats."

She looked over at her mother in the front passenger seat, who nodded with an encouraging smile. "You'll be fine, sweetie," she reassured. "Now come on. You don't want to be late."

Judy took a shaky breath. "Okay," she said nervously. "Wish me luck."

Her mother reached back and took her paw. She didn't say anything, just squeezed gently. Mother and daughter held their positions for a moment, gently smiling at each other, one in encouragement, the other in gratitude. "Go on," Bonnie said quietly.

Taking a deeper breath and biting her lip, Judy nodded. "Thanks, mum," she said quietly then turned decisively and opened the door. Collecting her bag from the seat beside her as she climbed out of the truck, she took a moment to steady herself before striding into the academy.

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Nick, along with the other cadets, relaxed gratefully as they were ordered to stand at ease. He resisted the urge to look around to find Judy. Even if she were near the front of the audience he wouldn't exactly be able to see through the larger cadets standing right behind him.

"And now," Major Friedkin announced. "Please welcome last year's valedictorian, the first rabbit officer of the ZPD, _Officer Judy Hopps_!"

Nick froze as the crowd behind him and the VIPs up on the stage broke into polite - though restrained - applause. _What‽_ A heartbeat later and there she was, smiling nervously out over their heads at the crowd, resplendent in her own immaculate dress uniform. Making it to the podium, her smile warmed as she briefly caught his eye before disappearing for a few moments as she climbed the stairs built into the back of it.

"Thank you, Major." Her voice rang out over the rapidly fading remnants of applause as everyone settled down for the speech. "Thank you, everyone, for making the trip out here," she addressed the crowd. "It may seem like a small thing, but it really is warming to see so many mammals here, supporting the police. We spend so much time dealing with negativity, it means a lot to me to see you all here. Just as I'm sure it means a lot to each of the cadets, your friends and family, who are graduating today."

She took a breath before continuing. "I know I don't exactly have a spotless record as far as public speaking goes," she said a little more slowly, as if wanting to make sure nobody missed a word. "But as far as I know, I'm not being set up to bait any big political conspiracies today." She threw a smirk over her shoulder at the assistant mayor, who grinned back and rolled his head along with his eyes, exaggerating the motion enough to make it easy for the audience to notice.

"If any of you want to say or do something about me being here, about me speaking here," she said sombrely, "I ask only one thing. Please leave it be for today. Today is not about me. Today is about the cadets before you, the brave mammals about to become Officers of the Zootopia Police Department, about to become living symbols of the law. They are committing to holding the line against anarchy, to protecting each and every one of you. Let today belong to them, and them alone."

Nick's ears pressed back as Judy spoke, disheartened by the idea that she thought that was necessary. At the same time though, his heart seemed to grow, the gentle beats becoming stronger thumps as her words about them registered.

"All of these cadets before you," she continued more strongly, "fully deserve to be counted amongst the greatest and bravest mammals you know. They are turning away from more lucrative careers, from safer careers, from easier lives. They are putting themselves forward to stand between you, between civilisation, and darkness. They will spend their careers helping every single mammal in the world with rarely a muttered 'thank you' to show for it.

"Take a moment, please. When did you last think about the police? When did you last consider how much work goes into keeping you all safe? When did you last hear about someone being arrested? Have you thought about the effort it takes to build a case, to track criminals down, to make our justice system _work_?"

The crowd and cadets were utterly silent. Some were simply captivated by the bunny's thought-provoking words, others were introspective. Nick was starting to want to curl in on himself a little. It was too much; she was dragging the reality of what he was stepping into from the shadows, illuminating the grimy truth for all to see. Then she was looking down at them, making sure to meet each of their gazes.

"Stand tall, cadets," she all but ordered. " _We are the shields that guard the realms of mammals._ " There were a few quiet chuckles, mostly disguised as coughs at that line. "Every single one of you has proven you have what it takes. You have overcome obstacles that many wouldn't even try to take on. You have faced down everything the world has thrown at you and beaten it." Her lips quirked in a slight smirk. "You survived six months in the company of Major Friedkin." It was the cadets' turn to chuckle quietly as the bunny glanced over at the scowling polar bear.

"When I was a kid," Judy said more sombrely, "I thought Zootopia was this perfect place where everyone got along and anyone could be anything." Her ears drooped sadly then as she looked back over the attentive crowd. "Of course, I found out the hard way just how naive that is. I never stopped to think; never stopped to wonder why, if Zootopia was so perfect, did it needed a police force? I was so focused on my dream of becoming an Officer that I never asked why any of us should _need_ to make the world a better place."

She paused for a moment, letting the question linger. "Turns out, real life is a little bit more complicated than a slogan on a bumper sticker," she continued with a small, soft smile. "That's not really so surprising though: bumper stickers are _kinda_ small." There was another soft rumble of amusement from her audience at that.

Nick couldn't help but feel warmed. Here she was, the indomitable wonder bunny, bouncing back from her disastrous first attempt at public speaking. True, she wasn't facing reporters this time, but even if she had been, her smooth, confident words, richly decorated with all her magnificent over-abundance of emotions would have been sure to draw them in, he felt. The occasional light garnish of humour was a nice touch too: not so garish as to diminish the seriousness of her address but enough to keep things from becoming overly gloomy.

"Real life is messy: we all have limitations; we all make mistakes." Her smile grew watery then. "I know those mistakes can hurt," she said softly, looking down and pinning Nick with her gaze. "I know my own mistakes have hurt some of you deeply; I _know_ I hurt the best friend I ever had, the first mammal to stand up for me..." She trailed off and closed her eyes, drawing down a shaky breath. When she opened them again it wasn't hard to spot the dampness they contained, normally brilliant, sparkling violet now subdued and shimmering.

"I spent most of my life fighting the limitations that others tried to put on me." Her voice quavered but held as she steadied herself, throwing Nick a small, apologetic smile. "I spent that whole time telling myself I was right, that everyone _else_ was wrong to say I couldn't be a cop." She paused briefly, then indicated herself and her uniform. "They _were_ wrong, but that's not the point," she stage whispered to the crowd, receiving another muted round of amusement.

"We _all_ have limitations; we _all_ make mistakes," she repeated seriously. "Which means hey, glass half full, we all have a lot in common. Some teachers think we only ever learn by making mistakes." A pause, slight but enough to firmly capture the attention of everyone. "I think they're right," she pronounced. "I was convinced I was right and it wasn't until my mistakes were shoved gracelessly into my face that I was even able to _see_ them.

"The _important_ thing is that we _choose_ to learn from our mistakes, that we acknowledge them and try to understand them. Sometimes we need help to do that; sometimes we need each other. And the more we try to understand one another, the more exceptional each of us will be. None of us is perfect, but _every_ one of us can be someone's hero. It doesn't have to be grand or epic: it can be as simple as helping a lost kid or walking someone home; it can be giving the last few cents a homeless mammal needs to spend a night off the streets."

Her voice grew stronger, thickening with determination and pride as she spoke. "But we have to try. So no matter what type of animal you are, from the biggest elephant to our first fox, I _implore_ you: try. Try to make the world a better place." She smiled proudly down at the cadets before sweeping her gaze across her entire audience. "Look inside yourself and recognise that change starts with you. It starts with me. It starts with all of us."

There was a moment of silence at the conclusion of her speech then a raucous cacophony erupted as the cadets burst into applause, followed by the rest of the audience. Judy smiled down at them without moving, apparently not yet done. When she caught his eye Nick gave her a proud smile. She beamed back, clearly delighted with the reaction she was getting. As the bulk of the applause began to die away, Nick couldn't help but carry on undiminished for a few moments. It was silly but he wanted to make sure she understood he wasn't just clapping along with the rest of them.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Judy looked back at the front row of cadets, searching briefly for whoever was refusing to stop clapping at full strength. _Of course,_ she thought to herself, mentally rolling her eyes. Outwardly she smiled warmly down at the dumb fox.

When the last of the applause finally stopped she spoke again. "Change isn't just about us," she pronounced. "It's about our society as a whole; it's about the organisations we work for; it's about the institutions we support. The ZPD is changing too: last year the first bunny started working there. Right now, please join me in welcoming Cadet Nicholas Wilde to the stage as he takes his place as our first fox Officer!"

She began to clap, leading the other cadets and the audience into a polite, regular smattering of noise as Nick stiffened slightly, shot her a heatless glare, and began to make his way to the stage. Climbing down from the podium, she turned to take the box with Nick's badge from the assistant mayor. Turning back, she took in the sight of Nick climbing the last step onto the stage.

 _He looks... great,_ she decided, with a slight mental stumble over the last word. _He looks happy, proud. And the uniform suits him; so much smarter than before._

Then he was in front of her, a genuine, proud smile on his muzzle. She approached slowly, almost not daring to believe this was really happening. She'd waited so long for her best friend to make it through the academy that now the moment was here, it felt almost unreal. Then she was in front of him, beaming as she attached his badge and all of a sudden the scene had a sense of hyper-reality. Every detail was clear and sharp: the beautiful contrast of the gold badge against the blue of his shirt, the rich cream of the fur at his throat sweeping into the deep black of his tie; the tuft of carrot-orange fur sticking out of the side of his shirt collar, the brilliant green of his eyes.

That moment, that one perfect instant, she knew would be burned into her memory for the rest of her life.

The rest of the ceremony passed in a blur. The other graduating cadets were called up to receive their badges one by one, finishing with the cohort's valedictorian Sam, the lynx that Nick had made friends with. As had happened at her own graduation, Sam was pulled into a publicity photo - though with the assistant mayor as Mayor Hornton had excused himself on grounds of not wanting to interfere with or impose upon the ZPD as much as Lionheart had. Sitting up on the stage, she had to consciously still her foot more than once as her impatience to catch up with Nick started to get to the limb.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stepping up onto the stage, Nick's heart was nearly in his mouth. He hadn't expected to be publicly called out like this. Swallowing his trepidation, he looked up from the steps, searching for Judy and determined to ignore the crowd. As soon as his eyes found hers though, the audience, the cadets, and even the other mammals on the stage seemed to vanish from his awareness. The stereotype might be that a male in uniform was attractive but surely nothing in the world could hold a candle to this bunny.

A huge and proud, soft and caring smile stretching her face, Judy looked _radiant_. With an almost tangible aura of happiness, she fit into her dress uniform perfectly. It was as though she was _born_ to wear it, _born_ to be an officer. He couldn't imagine anyone looking as smart, as comfortable, as confident... As _right_ as she did.

Then she was in front of him, pinning his badge on. The soft brush of her fingers through the fabric of his shirt set his fur a-tingling as the weight of his badge settled into place. He couldn't speak; there was a lump in his throat and a faint prickling in the corners of his eyes as his new reality dawned. He was Officer Nicholas Wilde of the Zootopia Police Department. He was _someone_. He was part of a _pack_. Someone who'd _believed_ in him had been _right_.

It was all he could do to smile back at Judy and return her salute. Lowering his arm, he closed his eyes as he let out the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. Turning to his right in a smart about-face, he walked back off the stage, fighting not to tremble visibly.

The remaining presentations passed quickly enough, Nick clapping along politely as his friends - and those he was on less good terms with - collected their badges. The one exception was Sam: he made sure to clap just as loudly for her as she had for him. The cat definitely - in his mind, anyway - deserved the accolade of valedictorian. There hadn't been a huge amount in it, but in the end her prior years of ambition and work had given her a comfortable enough lead over him.

Once the ceremony concluded and the reporters had their fill, he barely had time to throw a smile Judy's way before she practically leapt off the stage and appeared in front of him, pulling him into an excited hug.

"I'm _soooo_ proud of you, Slick!" she exclaimed into his side.

He chuckled, giving her a squeeze. " _Thank you_ for believing in me, Fluff," he responded softly.

She squeezed back. " _Never_ doubted you, Nick," she said, warmth and sincerity filling her words. She held him for a moment longer then pulled back. "You know, I spotted someone else here you should say hello to."

Nick frowned down at her: she'd tensed a little as she spoke and was clearly trying to keep from sounding nervous. "Who's that?" he asked, hoping to coax enough from her to get a better read on why she reacted like that.

She didn't say anything, just bit her lip, eyes widening slightly as she placed a paw on his side and gently turned him. He turned his head in counterpoint, grinning and unable to look away from her ridiculously adorable face. Then she stopped moving him and after a moment he turned his head to his front.

The entire machinery of his mind seized instantly. There was no grinding, no tortured screeching of un-oiled gears coming to a halt; everything just stopped without warning. He stood frozen for some time, eyes wide, ears back, fur puffed. Distantly, he began to register sound and touch once more: a small, soft paw on his back; a concerned voice.

"Judy," he said shakily. "Am- Am I seeing...?" He heard himself speak without being aware of doing it. "Is that really...?"

She may have replied, he wasn't sure. She did, however, give him a little push.

Advancing on trembling paws, he moved through the crowd as though it were as insubstantial as the air itself. Stopping before the mammal he hadn't dreamed of seeing here, he opened his mouth to say... Something, he was sure, he just didn't know what. He licked his suddenly dry lips, wishing for something to wet his mouth and throat too. "Mum?" he croaked disbelievingly.

Her fur had begun to lighten and there were new lines visible through the short fur around her muzzle and eyes, but it wasn't really a question. There was no way to mistake those eyes, teary though they might be, or the shape of her face. No other vixen had that particular chip in her lower left canine that became visible as her mouth slowly opened. And there was absolutely no way he'd ever forget her scent: a deliciously warm, fantastically comforting, slightly tangy, lightly floral mix that simply screamed of _home_ and _belonging_ and _family_ in a way he hadn't felt in more years than he cared to think about.

"Nicky," she breathed tremulously.

"Mum," he said again, stronger this time.

She nodded, making small, rapid movements as she bit her lips and struggled to hold in tears.

Nick broke. He threw himself forward, wrapping her in his arms and burying his muzzle in her neck. "I'm sorry," he whispered, fighting to keep his voice from trembling as silent tears soaked his face.

"Oh, _Nicky_ ," she replied, just as softly. She nuzzled him briefly and whine escaped him. It was all he could do to keep it quiet enough that he thought nobody else heard it. Then she was grinding her jaw against the side of his head, marking him as she hadn't since he'd been a kit. He whimpered and clung onto her as though she might vanish as easily as a dream.

A minute later she'd collected herself enough to stop her own tears and gently pet the back of his head as he struggled to get his emotions back into their box. Several very shaky breaths later, he had enough control to pull back - though he kept his arms around her. "I'm sorry," he croaked.

Her smile was watery, a little disbelieving and... proud?

"You- You have some explaining to do, young man," she said shakily.

He shook his head adamantly. "No. I have _lots_ of apologising to do."

"Shh," she soothed, pulling him back into a tight embrace. "What... What _happened_ to you, Nicky?" She pulled back a little and gestured around. "How...?"

He grinned weakly. "It's a long story, mum."

"Well, why don't you tell me all about it and then we'll decide what you need to apologise for?"

He nodded, resigned. There was no arguing with that tone. Making their way to a pair of chairs right at the back, away from the rest of the newly-minted Officers and their families, Nick was suddenly nervous; more nervous than he'd ever been in his life, including both times he'd met Mister Big. He looked around for Judy, hoping to catch her eye and have her help tell the story. His face fell slightly as he was unable to find her in the throng of larger bodies.

When he didn't speak, his mother broke the silence. "I didn't believe it." He looked at her cautiously, waiting for her to continue. "When that stupid fluff-brain left me an invitation to- Nicholas?"

With an effort, he clamped down on the growl he'd barely been aware of. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes to collect himself, he held a paw up to his mother. In a cold, flat voice that brooked no argument he said, " _Judy_ is the reason I'm here, _mother_. She's the reason I graduated, the reason I applied, the reason I had a chance. She saved my life twice in the first day I knew her. She means a lot to me and is my best friend."

"That- That- ?"

" _Yes_ **mother** ," he all but growled. "That rabbit. _Judy Hopps_."

"But she-"

He held up his paw again. "Look, you obviously don't like her. Maybe hearing what I have to say will change your mind. Maybe it won't." His eyes hardened. "Either way, _don't_ insult her. You don't have to be singing her praises, but you'll at least be civil."

She looked at him in shock. "I cannot believe the words that just came out of your mouth, young man! I am-"

"My mother, yes. Judy is my best friend and is going to be my partner on the force. Both of which mean she's going to be a big part of my life from now on. If you can't respect that, then we have a problem."

"Nicholas," she began warningly.

"No, mum. This is not a point for debate." He looked down for a moment with a sigh. "Look, I made a huge mistake. I was too stubborn to admit that there was a possibility I was wrong and you were right and I drove us apart because of that." A pause for emphasis. " _Please don't._ "

She gazed at him, slightly down her muzzle, judging. "Fine," she all but spat eventually. "I didn't really believe it when I was left an invitation to a _police academy_ graduation, especially on April the first."

Nick sighed, his mother's reaction poorer than he'd hoped. Still, he had to fight back a slight snort of amusement. She was right that it was a rather... inauspicious coincidence - not that he expected Judy to have known that.

"I nearly threw it away," she continued. "But eventually I decided to look into it, just in case it might have been true." Her face softened and she reached for him, cupping his cheek. "What happened, Nicky?"

Taking a shaky breath, Nick began to speak. He explained where the money that he'd begun to semi-regularly 'find' in the house and at school had come from; he told her about dropping out of school and running away. His brief time homeless, the years of scraping by, hustling everyone he could, and his run-in with Mister Big were harder to speak about, but he pushed through. Finally, meeting Judy, the Missing Mammals case and the Nighthowler Conspiracy.

Though he kept the story short, summarising everything as quickly as he could without missing anything important, he still spoke for over half an hour. Around them, the gathering was beginning to disperse, most of the nibbles and drinks having been consumed. Finally falling silent, he found himself looking around once more, searching for long grey ears.

"Nicky," his mum breathed.

"I'm sorry, mum," he said again.

She pulled him into a tight hug, tears dampening his shoulder. "You silly, _silly_ little tod," she said thickly. "You could have come home."

"No," he said instantly with a shake of his head. "You didn't want anything to do with me. I wasn't going to force you to put up with me just because my life was rough."

"Nicky," she began, exasperated.

"Mum," he cut her off. "I know exactly what you thought of me and my choices back then. I wasn't going to shove that into your face, especially since you were right."

"You're admitting I was _right_?" It was nearly a squeak, she was so surprised.

Nick shrugged. "I probably wouldn't have at the time but yes, you were right. Which is another reason I'm so sorry," he finished, looking her in the eye.

She studied him carefully for a moment. "The rabbit hasn't put you up to this, has she?"

He sighed heavily. It was an improvement, he supposed. "No, mum. Judy didn't put me up to anything. But she believed in me." His lips quirked in a nearly unconscious smile. "That little ball of energy bounced into my life like a tornado full of rubber balls and just somehow started making everything better."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vivian was torn. On the one paw, her son seemed so sincere. On the other, he was talking about _her_.

 _"I was too stubborn to admit that there was a possibility I was wrong and you were right"_ Nicky's words echoed in her mind and she bit the inside of her lip for a moment.

She sighed heavily, coming to a decision. "I still want the _full_ story," she said, Nicky nodding in acceptance. "But I think..." she said slowly, "I think I owe your friend an apology," she admitted heavily. "At least I should thank her for looking after you."

Seeing Nicky's reaction, how he perked up and smiled, his tail giving a little wag as his ears twitched happily and he smiled nearly made her melt. Her happy, smiling, playful little kit was back, it seemed. And if that rabbit really did have something to do with it...

He squeezed her gently before breaking their embrace. "Wait here," he said warmly. She nodded, a lump in her throat as he stood and pushed his way through the thinning crowd.

Moments later he was back, the uncertain-looking rabbit a step behind. Vivian looked down at her neutrally, trying to push her feelings aside. Nobody spoke.

"Thank you," she said at last. "For helping my son. For saving his life."

The bunny nodded, a compassionate smile appearing on her face. She glanced at Nicky and it widened briefly as he smiled back.

Fighting her own, increasingly conflicted emotions, she decided to extend a paw. "I owe you an apology, Officer-" she began before the rabbit cut her off.

"No, ma'am," she said with a shake of her head. "I knew there was some... tension, between you and I chose to stick my nose in anyway. And I've made my own mistakes too, which you're right to be upset about."

Vivian pulled her paw back as the rabbit made no move to take it, considering.

"I hope I can improve my standing with you, Missus Wilde," she continued. "But you don't owe me anything. I'm just grateful you decided to come today; I can see how much it means to both of you."

Vivian studied the mammal before her for a long moment. Short - not unexpected for a rabbit; lithe and clearly fit - as showed off by her uniform; large, honest purple eyes set into a guileless grey face. Interestingly there wasn't a hint of fear or trepidation in her bearing as she looked up at the larger predator - with a second fox beside her too. "Maybe," she conceded. "But I think I'll wait until Nicky's told me the _whole_ story before judging that." She extended her paw once more, more decisively this time. "Thank you, for making this happen."

The rabbit looked at her for a moment, a flash of near-annoyance crossing her face as she realised how Vivian had out-foxed her, offering additional thanks without suggesting anything was owed. Thanks which she now couldn't refuse without appearing churlish. Then she smiled resignedly, glancing at Nicky with a small shake of her head before extending her own paw and taking Vivian's.

"You're welcome, Missus Wilde," she said seriously.

"So what happens now?" Vivian asked after a moment.

"That kind of depends on Nick," the rabbit explained. "I got a full month between graduating and starting so that I could find a place to live and sort everything else out. In theory he can start as early as Monday but there's no rush."

"Carrots, I've been stuck out here for _six months_ ," Nicky drawled. "I'm ready to get back to the city and since I've already got a place there's nothing to wait for."

Vivian raised an eyebrow as the bunny didn't react to the nickname and simply turned to her son, almost vibrating with what she assumed was excitement, a huge smile on her face.

"Really?" she asked. "You're starting on Monday?"

Nicky smiled down at her. "You betcha, Fluff. I'll pack up my stuff, say bye to everyone, and we'll be back in Zootopia tonight. I'll have the whole day off tomorrow to get stuff ready and then we can start making the world a better place the day after."

Vivian could only watch on in bemusement as the bunny gave an excited squeak, hopping a little in place, then leapt forward and pulled her son into a hug.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday morning came, and with it, a sight never before seen in Zootopia: a well-groomed, smartly uniformed red fox strolling into ZPD Precinct One. He'd arrived early, at Judy's insistence. There was paperwork to do, apparently, and she wanted him out on the streets at her side without delay. One hour and an aching paw later, Judy gathered up the stack of completed forms and dashed off, ordering him to stay put.

Nick leaned back with a sigh. _That bunny's going to be the death of me._ He gazed around the cubicle Judy had led him to, noting how everything was sized for a much larger mammal - except for the small collection of stationary that was obviously Judy's. There was a strange, dreamlike quality to the world around him, almost as though everything about the last ten months was just a figment of his imagination. Here he was, low-life, nobody hustler turned cop, a mammal with friends and purpose.

Judy came racing back into the cubicle, grabbing his paw and hauling him downstairs, chattering away rapidly. They passed a few mammals that Nick recognised - the bubbly cheetah receptionist, Nadine, and one of the rhinos from the museum - then they were in the bullpen. It was a raucous place and his ears folded back slightly until he saw how everyone there reacted to them - to Judy, really. Friendly smiles, paws and hoofs held out for a friendly bump or shake. He spotted Sam in one corner and returned her slightly nervous grin in kind.

Then Chief Bogo was there, handing out assignments. His mouth dropped open in horror at being given parking duty in retaliation for, he was sure, his quip. Sharing a relieved and somewhat sheepish grin with his partner when Bogo revealed their real assignment, he didn't dare say anything else out loud right then.

Heading out in their customised cruiser, Judy nervously confessed it was her first time handling one of the giant vehicles. The vehicle had only been delivered to the ZPD on Friday - the day before he'd graduated - and even with seat adaptors available, there was just no way for Judy to reach the pedals of any of the 'standard' cruisers. Though she was tentative at first, she rapidly settled, confidently handling the cruiser through their first few stops.

His first morning as a cop involved someone blatantly ignoring a red light, an attempted mugging that turned out to be a false alarm, and being put on standby to assist another pair of Officers responding to a report of an agitated shoplifter. He'd expected Judy to start getting impatient by lunchtime: they weren't exactly making progress with their assignment after all. Instead, she remained cheerfully energetic, prodding him to speak up about what he was seeing and thinking. She did the same, providing summaries of her thoughts and actions, gently coaching him through the differences between the academy and the streets.

He would have thought that it would become irritating or exhausting but found himself engaging with the experience, so much so that he chose to continue the discussion over lunch - a quick stop at a sandwich shop - bringing up how she'd let Jerry Jumbeaux off with a warning for a major health code violation.

"The law is... less perfect than the academy makes it out to be," she explained, gesturing with her sandwich. "Yes, by the letter of the law, that should have been reported, a fine applied, and an inspection scheduled. But the _spirit_ of the law matters as well." She took a bite before continuing. "The law is the written part of the contract of society. It's supposed to be the rules we all sign up to in return for being allowed to live here; it's about setting out what behaviours are and aren't accepted and discouraging those that the society as a whole frowns on.

"I was thinking about the spirit of the law then," she explained. "If I'd confronted him directly, right then and there, you wouldn't have gotten your jumbo-pop, the other customers might have been upset and the rest of my life might have gone pretty differently." She smiled coyly up at him as she finished. "Instead, I made sure to speak _just_ a little bit louder than I had to. Did you notice the elephant at the table who snorted his ice cream all over his date?"

Nick grinned and nodded. "He made a heck of a mess. It was kind of hard not to laugh."

She grinned back. "How much of an impact on his business do you think that little scene had?"

He frowned. "You think that one thing would have a big effect?"

Her grin became a smirk. "Just after we got outside I heard him calling for help cleaning up and that they'd be lucky if he didn't demand a refund."

Nick looked at her, considering. "So you helped me out and Jumbeaux got both an official?" She nodded. "Official warning and complaining customers."

"Yup," she chirped. "And hopefully more than a few recommending their friends avoid the place - for a while, anyway."

"Huh." He finished his sandwich before speaking again. "So you punished him for breaking the law - although maybe not quite as badly as if you'd brought the health inspectors - and helped me at the same time."

She nodded. "Yeah. Greatest good for the most people." She looked down for a moment. "We can't always do it: there are times and situations where we have to keep to the letter of the law. When we can though, I think we... kind of _have to_ do things like that. It's no good just punishing people if we're not actually helping anyone."

Nodding his understanding, Nick held out his paw for a bump. "Come on then, partner. Let's go keep making the world a better place."

An hour later they pulled over a speeding car, but it turned out not to be their target. The jackal driving didn't contest anything, quickly explaining that his wife was in labour at the hospital and clearly eager to be off again as fast as possible.

"I understand you're anxious, sir," Judy said patiently, "but you're putting other mammals at risk. How would you like to mark your kits' birthdays with killing someone?"

The jackal slumped in his seat. "You're right," he said mournfully. "I wasn't thinking."

Judy studied him for a moment then handed over a ticket - a simple fifty dollar fine. "Just keep it below the limit and drive safe, sir," she said gently.

He nodded, taking the ticket without complaint and pulling away once she turned back to Nick, sitting in the cruiser. He blinked and tore his eyes away from her. For some reason, he'd been finding himself staring throughout the day.

She hopped back into the car and laid a paw on his arm, big purple eyes focused on him intently. "Everything okay, Slick?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Just..." He trailed off, searching for the right word. "Just admiring you, I guess. You handle all this so well; you know exactly what to say."

Her ears drooped. "Are you worried about what mammals might say to you?"

"No." He shook his head firmly. "I'll take it as it comes - though hopefully the uniform will keep the worst of it away." He paused, uncertain. "I- You're _good_ at this job, Judy," he said sincerely. "What if I'm not? Do I deserve to be your partner?"

He recoiled, blinking in surprise as she slapped his shoulder. "Nicholas Wilde," she scolded. "We've been over this. I don't want anyone else as my partner. I want _you_ here, with me. And you've not even been on the job a _day_ and you're doubting yourself." Her paw laid against his arm once more. "Come on, partner," she said more softly. "Pull yourself together."

"You're not gonna give up on me, are you?" he asked with a weak grin, fighting a small surge of emotion.

" _Never!_ " she pronounced solemnly, though with a sparkle in her eyes.

He took a deep breath. "Okay, let's do this."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I swear, it's like you two hate each other."

"Nah, Fin's just a little... rough around the edges."

"That was the second time I've seen you two together and both times he's threatened to bite your face off!"

"It's just kind of his thing. Sly fox, dumb bunny, bite-y fennec."

"Oh come on! He sounded _really_ aggressive. I was seriously worried I'd have to arrest him for assaulting an officer and visit you in hospital."

" _Relaaaaaaax_ , Carrots. Fin and I were partners for quite a long time. I know him and he was just being his usual short, angry self."

"Hmm, maybe."

There was a thunk as they passed over a pothole. He took a moment to straighten himself and his uniform. "So are all rabbits bad drivers, or is it just you?" A strangled yelp escaped him as he was hurled forwards into the seatbelt, coming up in a tangle of limbs with the pawpsicle stuck over his eye.

"Ooops, _sorry_."

He pulled the cool treat off his face with a chuckle. " _Sly bunny_ ," he conceded.

"Dumb fox!" she chirped back.

"You know you love me," he couldn't help but tease.

"Do I know that?" she asked, as if actually considering it. "Yes," she said with a smile. "Yes I do."

A thrill shot up his spine as she smiled at him and it was all he could do to keep his confident grin in place as a warm smile of his own threatened to replace it. The light turned green and she began to accelerate, only to stamp on the brakes once again as a red and white blur shot past with a roar. Eyes wide, he turned back to his partner with a sly smile. She smirked back at him, pulling away with a squeal of rubber as he flicked his aviators open and hit the switches for the lights and siren.

He was almost disappointed when, just three seconds later, the sports car slowed to a stop, the driver apparently uninterested in a long, dangerous chase.

Judy looked over at him as she stopped the cruiser. "Come on," she said brightly. "Let's get you a bit closer to the action." She hopped out into the late afternoon sun and waited for him to climb out before striding over to the driver-side window.

"Sir, you were going one hundred and fifteen miles per hour; I hope you have a good reason."

The window slowly wound down to reveal a worried sloth. Judy blinked in surprise and felt her eyes go wide. She glanced at Nick before looking back at the driver. _It can't be-_

"Flash, flash, hundred yard _dash_ ," Nick exclaimed, pulling off his sunglasses.

The sloth's face slowly relaxed and began to break into a smile. "Niiiiick," he began to say.

Below the edge of the window and hopefully out of sight, Judy subtly elbowed Nick. He glanced at her and his grin faded as he took in her serious expression. He sighed softly and nodded. Judy took a step back, gesturing him forward.

"I was just-" Flash was saying.

Nick looked at her, a little wide eyed. Maybe it was a little unfair to make his first ticket be someone he knew, but on the other paw Flash wouldn't come out with anything outrageously anti-fox. Mind made up, she nodded towards the car, making no move to approach it herself. Nick's shoulders slumped a bit but he nodded and turned back to Flash, holding up a paw. The sloth took note of the gesture a few seconds later and stopped speaking.

"Flash, buddy," Nick said slowly - not mocking, just considering his words, she thought. "I hate to do this, but my partner's right. You were going nearly four times the limit here. We can't let that go."

The sloth's face fell and Judy had to struggle not to feel bad; it was difficult when the change was so slow she could see every nuance of the motion.

"I'm. Soooorryyy, Niick."

"I know, buddy, I know. But you could have killed someone. You weren't exactly just a little bit too fast."

Flash slowly sighed, looking down for a minute. He eventually lifted his head back up and nodded glumly. Leaning over, he worked a paw into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, handing over his licence. Nick took it sombrely and turned to Judy.

"Shall I call it in and get a tow truck sent out? Or are you going to to it?"

Judy shook her head. "No."

"No? But... all this..." he gestured between himself and the stopped car.

"You did good, Nick, and we're not letting him off - Bogo would kill us. But he did help us during the missing mammals case and we don't want to discourage mammals from helping the cops."

He looked at her thoughtfully. "So punish him for breaking the law but be more lenient than if we didn't know him?"

Judy shook her head. "No. Not 'if we didn't know him'. Be careful saying stuff like that in uniform, Slick." He winced and nodded. "But yes, we're going to be more lenient than if he hadn't helped with a prior investigation."

"Okay, so what's the plan?"

Judy stepped forward, taking Flash's licence. "Mister Slothmore," she said in a formal tone. "Normally your vehicle would be impounded and your licence revoked until you completed a safe driving course for an incident like this. Because of your assistance with a prior major investigation however, you get a second chance." Glancing down, she noted down the details of Flash's licence. Passing the plastic card back to him, she waited until he was looking at her again before continuing.

"A hundred dollar fine, three points on your licence, and an official warning: consider yourself on probation for the next six months, sir. If you are found breaking a speed limit or other traffic law within that time the full penalty for that offence will be applied and you _will_ have to attend a safe driving course before being allowed to drive again. Do you understand?"

Flash nodded. "I. Under-stand. Offf-i-cer."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The fox was back! Wherever he had been, he had returned. Wearing the same blue as the demon rabbit, he had returned.

This time he was ready. _Her_ will would be carried out. The first sacrifice had failed, as _She_ had foretold. The next would not, of that he was sure.

 _She_ doubted. _She_ claimed no sacrifice would sway the demon rabbit. Her fell purple eyes would see through the veil, _She_ warned.

His goddess, though, she was a goddess: not truly able to grasp the limits of a mortal mammal's mind, nor the mind of one possessed by a demon.

The sacrifice _would_ be made, he was determined. Only that would weaken the demon. It would distract her, make her vulnerable. The ritual would influence the fox as well, weakening him alongside his mistress. When the demon's minion was cleansed from the world she would be that much easier to defeat.

He closed his eyes and drew a deep, calming breath. The martyr was chosen. He had only to wait for destiny to draw them together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm not sure if it counts as life hitting me with another rugby tackle but I definitely went through a bout of writer's block. I don't know if it was specifically related to speech-writing or if it was generic, garden-variety writer's block that just happened to hit while I was trying to write a speech. Either way, once I got past that the rest of this chapter came together quite smoothly. I did have to look at a couple of scenes a several times to polish them up - notably Judy meeting Vivian again - but I think I'm happy with how everything's turned out.
> 
> In other news, I'm officially _done_ with renting: let's just say I'm not best pleased with how my landlord has handled a couple of issues that have arisen. That means - drum roll - I'm starting to look for a place to buy. That will definitely screw with any semblance of a schedule as it progresses but I'm going to do my best to power through and finish this second act before it gets too crazy. No promises, but that's the plan.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who's continuing to read this despite my atrocious tardiness in the last few chapters. As a reader myself, I know well how frustrating it is to have to wait ages for a chapter, especially if you're reading multiple works and find yourself needing to re-read things to catch back up. As we unfortunately haven't yet mastered manipulating gravity (space-time) to the point where I can selectively slow time down for the rest of the world until I finish, the best I can do is promise to write as quickly as life/the universe allows and promise to finish what I've started.


	20. Chapter 18: Family and Friendship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm now juggling another new plot thread... I'm mostly hoping this is all stays coherent as we build to the crescendo of Act II. Most of the current threads will be tied off in the next few chapters but be warned, things are going to get darker for a while. But before that: have some fluff, with a little garnish of creepy :)

Nick's first week on the force flew past. Before he quite knew it, he was clocking out on Thursday afternoon and being dragged off to a _cop bar_ of all places, by a _bunny_. The tigress, pair of wolves, and the rhino escorting them might have had something to do with his willingness to go along with it too.

Judy bought the first round almost as soon as they were through the door, dashing over to the bar while the rest of them found a suitable table. Back barely a moment later, before the rest of them were even really settled, she was bouncing enthusiastically into her seat and making introductions.

"So, Nick, uh, you know Nadine," she began, pointing across Nick to the tigress who was busy rolling her eyes at the bunny's antics. "This is Rory McHorn, and Ralph and Rachel Wolfard," she finished, indicating first the rhino sitting opposite Nadine, then the two wolves next to him.

Nick couldn't resist. "Rory, Ralph, and Rachel, huh?"

Rachel growled softly. "Don't even start."

Ralph looked at her and cocked his head curiously. "Bad day?"

She snorted and muttered something too low for Nick to catch. Neither Ralph nor Judy seemed to like what they'd heard, though. His ears angled back and he began to growl, low and threatening; in contrast, Judy's ears fell with her face and she leaned over to pat the female wolf's paw, eyes huge and concerned.

"Oh Gods!" she exclaimed softly. "I'm so sorry Rachel."

Nick exchanged glances with Nadine - next to him - and McHorn, on Ralph's other side. Neither of them could offer more than an equally lost shrug so he sat back and waited.

After a moment, Rachel sniffed and shook her head. "I'll get over him," she said glumly. "Can we just have a good time tonight?"

Nick blinked in surprise. _Huh. Must be siblings, not a couple..._ He shook it off quickly. "Bad breakup jokes and crazy relationship stories?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Rachel shook her head. "Not tonight. Anyth-" she cut herself off to shoot him a slightly unsteady glare. " _Almost_ anything else please."

He shrugged. "How about the time I nearly convinced D-" He paused, clearing his throat. "Nearly convinced a weasel to dress in drag as a way to avoid getting recognised while doing a job?"

Judy looked at him in shock. "You didn't!"

A waitress arrived before he could reply, passing out beers to the Wolfards and Nadine, and depositing a fruity-smelling cocktail in front of Judy. She retreated slightly, moving out of the way of a second waitress who heaved a small glass bucket of cider onto the table and slid it towards McHorn. To his surprise, instead of an ordinary drink, Nick found himself blinking at a trio of shot glasses. He poked the green one with a claw, tilting his head and frowning as it practically _smoked_. That might have just been the smell, though.

"Carrots, what the hell is this?"

He looked up to find a smirking bunny and four grinning officers.

"Rookie special," McHorn grunted.

Nick sighed extravagantly. " _Really_?"

They all nodded. "ZPD go in reverse order," Nadine explained. "The docs arrive last so go first, the hose draggers need to be there to get the docs in, and we _always_ get there first so you save this one to savour at the end." As she spoke she indicated the three shot glasses in order, the first containing the noxious looking green stuff, the second a deep amber liquid, and the third a nearly glowing blue concoction.

"You lot better not be trying to hustle me," he warned.

Judy snorted. "I'd come up with something better than _buying you drinks_ if I was hustling you, Slick."

Ralph chortled before calling across the room to the bartender. "Oi, Bill!" The grizzled elk threw him a fast gesture without bothering to look around, continuing to serve another customer. Ralph grinned, apparently unphased by the less than friendly response. "How long've you been doing the 'rookie special'?" he called.

"Since the place opened," Bill grunted back.

Rachel poked him in the side. "Stop it," she ordered. Placing her phone on the table, she turned it sideways and tapped the screen. The sound was either too low for him to hear or off, but Nick could clearly see Judy dubiously eyeing three familiarly colourful shot glasses. Rachel grinned and pulled the phone back before he could find out how that had ended. "Come on, foxy," she taunted.

Nick cast a flat look her way before turning back to Judy, trying to work out how that video ended. _A very emotional, very sloshed bunny, I reckon._ "Do I get to see the video afterwards?" he asked with a grin. She looked away quickly, ears just happening to fall so as to hide her face. Grin broadening, he looked back at Rachel, who nodded.

"Okay then," he said. "Here goes." Taking a deep breath, he picked up the first glass and threw back the contents. His breath exploded out in a hoarse cough as his tongue caught fire, tearing up as even his nose started watering. He choked down a breath. "Wow," he croaked. "What the-" He coughed again and shook his head. He sat back, panting and glared around at his audience, every one of whom were grinning broadly; Ralph was holding a phone up too.

"Next," Nadine ordered mirthfully.

He growled and shot her a dirty look but picked up the next glass anyway. This one went down much more smoothly, a hint of flavour coming through the alcohol burn. He still coughed, but it was a much less severe reaction. Placing the shot glass down deliberately, he eyed the final one with distaste. Drinking like this wasn't how he preferred to do it: if you weren't drinking to knock yourself out, savour the taste of something pleasant; if you were, may as well enjoy the taste of something pleasant while you're doing it.

Judy started chanting. "Drink. Drink. Drink. Drink." The others joined in, paws rhythmically tapping the table as McHorn tapped his foot, producing an audible beat as it clacked against the floor.

Nick rolled his eyes then in one smooth motion scooped up the final glass and downed the electric blue liquid. Unlike the others, there was a distinct taste to this one - not something he could place offpaw, but definitely... Good. He smacked his lips then licked them, making sure he had all of it. "That one's actually not bad," he admitted with a nod.

There were some chuckles and Ralph put his phone away. "So, coughs for the others, but 'not bad' for the ZPD, huh?" He grinned broadly. "Guess that means we can let you leave alive."

Nick snorted and elbowed the bunny beside him. "You'd have to get past my bodyguard first."

"You shouldn't need a bodyguard, _Officer_ Wilde," she teased back. "Besides, what could a widdle bunny do to protect a big bad predator like you?"

"Fluff, I've seen you in action up close and personal, remember? I know how good you are with a pillow and I wouldn't want to fight you again."

Ralph raised his eyebrows. "Up _close and personal_?" he repeated. " _Pillow_?" Now his eyebrows were waggling.

Nadine leaned past Nick to give Judy a look. She nodded and they both looked at Rachel who rolled her eyes and swatted the back of Ralph's head. " _Males_ ," the three of them said together.

Ralph grumbled something under his breath. "It was a _pillow fight_ , doofus," Rachel replied pointedly. Ralph's muttered response was lost in the general noise of the bar. " _Bodyguard_ ; _protect_ ; _fight_ ," she recited. " _That_ is the context for 'pillow', so pillow fight."

McHorn chucked into his beer as Rachel turned back to Judy with a shake of her head. "Honestly," she said. "It's hard enough trying to keep one little brother in line; how the hell did you manage with _your_ family?"

Judy smiled. "I had a few other sisters to help out," she explained. Rachel grunted and took a swig of her drink before pulling out her phone once more.

"Here's your video, Nick."

He looked down at the little screen eagerly, a happy buzz building rapidly. Judy was pointedly not looking at him, which made him grin in anticipation. On the small screen, he watched as the bunny raised an eyebrow at her audience then leaned in to take a sniff of each glass. She sat back, her face a blank mask as she looked around. Breaking into an evil smirk, she pulled the three glasses towards the edge of the table, arranging them so the first was right at the edge, the second just behind it, and the third to the right of that.

Nick could only watch in astonishment as the doe on screen took the first in her right paw and the second in her left then, without hesitation, threw the first shot back. His jaw dropped open as she dropped the first glass into her lap, her left paw bringing the second shot up even as her right descended to land in the perfect spot to grip the third. The second shot was gone a moment later and her left paw moved the empty glass away from her face as her right brought the third up.

The video ended soon after that and Nick turned slowly to his partner. _That was... like two seconds!_ To his horror, there was a phone in the grey paw before him and a very self-satisfied grin on the face above it. He slowly closed his jaw.

"It's called a hustle, sweetheart!"

Nick flopped back in his chair with a groan.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That was the night that Nick, to his delight - and later, confusion - discovered that Judy's respect for personal space fell and fell as she drank. It had started off simply enough, with her standing up in her seat and leaning over the table, poking McHorn's horn to get his attention while he was in the middle of telling a story. Soon after that she got _onto_ the table and walked across it to give Rachel a hug, practically falling off the edge into the wolf's lap.

Two rounds after that, and having returned to her seat by then, she'd wriggled through the gap between Nick and the table to Nadine just after Ralph got up to go to the bathroom. Without explaining herself, Judy hauled herself up Nadine's arm and stood on her shoulder to whisper in her ear. The big tigress had rolled her eyes when Judy arrived, smiling resignedly when she began climbing - an adult indulging a precocious child. A moment later she was choking on her mouthful of beer and turning a wide-eyed, almost panicked look at the rabbit. Her mouth was open as if she were going to say something but then she glanced around at her audience and schooled her features into a glare.

Judy giggled and patted her on the back of the head before turning and sliding down her arm like a kit at a playground. Instead of worming back past Nick as he'd expected though, she plunked herself down on the edge of _his_ seat then lifted his arm up and flopped against his side, a soft, happy sigh escaping her. Not daring to look at the others for help, Nick's eyes shifted rapidly as he tried to work out what to do. After a moment, he slowly, cautiously lowered his arm, trapping Judy against him. She wriggled slightly, settling into place with a soft chirr.

_Sooooo... I guess tipsy bun's a snuggle bun?_ Like most things she did, Nick didn't know whether it was a bunny thing or a Judy thing. That wasn't what had him so confused though: his own reactions were very odd. Personal space was, to foxes, exactly that: personal. As a rule, nobody but immediate family would be welcome inside that little bubble. Yet here was a _cop_ , a _bunny_ , tucked right up against him, _leaning on him_ , and he was absolutely fine with it.

He'd forced himself not to shiver as she squirmed past him, clenching his glass in a grip so tight he was vaguely impressed it hadn't shattered. Then, when she'd grabbed his arm, he'd frozen in a mix of shock and uncertain surprise, both stemming from the strange fact that he didn't want to shake her off. Before he could process that, she was pressed up against him and he was struggling to work out why that was making him feel somewhat awkward instead of spiders-under-the-fur-uncomfortable.

"Heh, welcome to the club, Nick," Nadine chuckled.

He looked at her questioningly, eyebrow raised and head cocked.

"She did that to me a while back," the tigress explained. "We'd had quite a bit more then than we've had now but yeah, pretty much the same thing. She climbed onto me, made herself comfortable, and refused to move."

McHorn opened his mouth then stopped, glancing almost nervously at Judy, then closed his mouth and leaned back. Ralph arrived back and slid into his seat, rubbing Rachel's shoulder as he passed behind her. He glanced at Judy's empty seat then at Nadine before following her gaze to Nick's side. He chuckled said "Hi, Judy. Comfortable there?"

"Hi Ralph!" she chirped back, nodding and lifting one little paw to wave energetically.

He snickered and waved back before grinning at Nick and Nadine. "I heard about this," he said with a voice full of suppressed merriment, "but seeing it..." He trailed off with a chuckle, a broad grin spreading across his muzzle. Nick rolled his eyes, resigning himself to the ribbing that was surely imminent.

"Don't." Nick and Ralph both looked quizzically at McHorn, the big rhino sounding dead serious. "Don't even _think_ the c-word. Just don't say anything about this." He pointed at Judy. "Trust me, you do _not_ want to annoy that rabbit."

Nadine snickered, a paw pressed over her mouth as she tried not to laugh out loud. Ralph looked at her, a mixture of confusion and annoyance on his face and she abruptly looked down at her glass, lifting it and taking a big swig of the rich amber liquid. Ralph raised an eyebrow then turned to McHorn, only to turn back the other way as Rachel prodded him.

"Don't you remember the picture in the break room?" she asked in a clearly exasperated tone.

Ralph's eyes widened. "That was _her_ ‽" he yelped.

Nick looked down at Judy and wasn't really surprised to see a wonderfully self-satisfied smirk on her face. "What's this photo?"

She glanced up at him and wriggled slightly, clearly pleased with herself. "That video I sent you?"

"There's a _video_ ‽" McHorn cried, aghast.

"Well, there's a photo of some of what the video missed," Judy explained.

Nick grinned down at her. "You're telling me there's a photo of a... hungover rhino somewhere in the precinct?"

She giggled. "No, it's been taken down. But I have the original."

Rachel sighed and poked her brother again. "Honestly, how could you not have worked that out? Who else would have put that caption on a photo like that?"

Ralph threw her a wounded look. "Oh come _on_!" he complained. "All it said was see, star, star, star. Do you know how many four-letter words start with a 'c'?"

"No. How many?" Rachel deadpanned.

Ralph opened his mouth but didn't say anything for a moment. "Not the point," he huffed. "There are at least two bad ones, plus cu-" He was cut off as Rachel elbowed him with a glare.

"There's a video?" McHorn asked desperately.

Judy just chirred happily and wiggled again.

McHorn flopped back in his chair with a desolate groan.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later that night Nick couldn't resist winding Judy up as they walked back to her apartment building. "So, uh, Carrots," he began, doing his best to sound awkward and uncertain. She hummed questioningly, tilting her head back to look up at him. A little shiver ran through him at the motion; she wasn't quite leaning on him, but she was close and her head was resting against his side as they walked, his arm around her shoulder to help ward off the chill of the night. "What's the deal with this?" he asked, his free paw indicating his side and the minimal gap.

Judy shrugged. "Nothing," she said, sounding almost puzzled. "I'm just walking with you." She frowned then, her short muzzle scrunching up as her nose started twitching. "Wait..." She pulled away slightly, looking at him in concern. "Oh no! Is this a fox thing? Do you not want-"

He silenced her by pulling her gently back to his side, amused - and kind of touched - that she'd missed his set-up and focused on his feelings. "It's okay, Carrots," he reassured. "I mean, it's unusual and you probably shouldn't try something like this with another fox..." He frowned at the thought then shook his head and shrugged. "But I'm okay with it." The whole time he'd been talking her eyes had been growing and nose hadn't stopped twitching: she was paws-down the most adorable thing he'd ever seen.

"Are you sure?" she asked weakly. "If it's too much or if it makes you uncomfortable..."

He shook his head and briefly tightened his arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry, Carrots. It's weird, but, I don't know... Good weird?"

"Okay," she said softly. "But tell me if I'm doing something you don't like." She paused for a moment before continuing. "I had to learn a bit about tigers when I worked with Nad so I wouldn't accidentally offend her. You're gonna need to tell me about foxes some time."

A little pulse of warmth ran through him. "You really want to learn about foxes?"

She nodded without hesitation. "I wanna know all about _you_ , Nick. What you like and don't like, the silly things and the important things. Oh!" The warmth bloomed and spread for a moment but then she pushed away from him suddenly, hopping forwards slightly so she could turn and look back at him. Opening her mouth to speak, she instead squeaked in surprise as she stumbled - walking backwards while drunk and unsupported a little too much.

Fortunately she was still close enough for him to catch with a fast lunge for her arm. "Easy, Carrots," he cautioned.

She blinked in surprise, pulling herself back towards him. "Nice catch, Slick."

"Drunk bunny," he chided gently.

"I'm not drunk!" she protested. He raised an eyebrow. "I'm not!" She pouted. "I'm... definitely tipsy. But I'm not drunk."

"Fine," he huffed, feigning irritation. "Tipsy bunny. What made you think jumping around and going backwards was a good idea?"

She looked down, a little sheepish. "I- Have you spoken to your mum again?" He was silent, not having expected that, of all things. "Nick?" she prompted quietly.

He shook his head. "Sorry, Fluff. Wasn't expecting that. No, I haven't."

She stopped walking, tugging him around to face her. She didn't say anything, just looked up at him with little flecks of reflected light dancing in her huge purple eyes.

"Alright," Nick said at last with a sigh. "I'll call her tomorrow. And turn it off!" he exclaimed playfully as she began to beam at him. "That right there's got to be a criminal level of cute, Officer Hopps!"

Judy pulled him into a tight hug with a happy hum. "Don't worry, Officer Wilde, I've got a permit." Then she thumped him.

He chuckled, hugging her back. "Come on, Fluff. Let's get you home. I still need to get back across town to my place."

She pulled back to peer at him curiously. "Where do you live?"

Nick grinned and, unable to help himself, tapped her gently on the nose. "Should be easy for a cop like you to figure out," he teased.

She shook her head, blinking at the unexpected tap, then frowned. "Is that a challenge?"

He just smirked at her as his gut twisted at the idea of her succeeding. "What _isn't_ a challenge to you?" He ruffled the fur between her ears, eliciting a surprised squeak of protest and flailing little paws trying to bat his own away. "Come on." He disengaged from the hug and placed a paw on her back to guide her homeward.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday morning saw a rather rumpled looking fox skidding into the lobby of Precinct One. He barely avoided crashing into a rather grumpy bunny as he flailed for balance, ending up leaning over her, wide-eyed with his ears pinned back under her glare. Judy let him stew for a moment, foot thumping and arms crossed, before grabbing his tie and marching off. Nick yelped in surprise as she moved, scrambling to keep his feet as he was hauled towards the bullpen.

"Carrots-"

She threw him a glare. "Later."

He gulped and nodded, following her into the now-familiar room. Settling into their shared chair with less than a minute to spare, Nick apparently decided panting was a better use of his time than ribbing anyone else and Judy couldn't help but roll her eyes. Even when he wasn't trying to goof around his antics were good for a laugh. Putting up a front of irritation was the only way to stop the damn grin that was trying to creep onto her face. Not that she wasn't genuinely annoyed with him for cutting it so fine, of course.

Chief Bogo arrived to the usual cacophony of chants and stomps, calling them to order in the same ritual Judy felt must have been happening for decades upon decades. She stood, listening attentively through the briefing with a proud smile on her face. For all that they looked raucous and unprofessional at times, her fellow officers were a real surrogate family, some of them bickering and teasing, but all looking out for one another in the end. Little rituals like this reinforced that feeling too. It felt almost like a mealtime back home, and taking part always gave her a sense of _belonging_ and _rightness_ \- things she'd been searching for for most of her life.

The briefing was reassuringly routine: standard patrols for most with a brief note about a string of burglaries that had taken place over the last few days. The one thing that always stood out though, was reassignments.

"Fangmeyer," the Chief rumbled gruffly. "I'm partnering you with Wolfard for the next few weeks. With Hopps and Wilde on your old route, you two'll be riding mostly his standard route."

Judy grinned internally as she glanced over her shoulder to where Nadine was sat. The tigress looked cool and collected, nodding in acknowledgement, but Judy spotted the flicking of her tail tip down among the chair and mammal legs. They were dismissed and, without thinking, Judy grabbed Nick's tie and led him over to Nadine, pushing through the throng of larger mammals as fast as was safe.

"No, it's fine," Nadine was saying as they arrived. "I mean, I'm not a fan of the cold but I'll deal with it."

"Hey guys," Judy chirped. "What happened to Ben?" she asked Ralph.

He shook his head. "Idiot had a few and decided to prove wolves could climb as well as cats." He sighed. "He fell out of an iced-up kids' climbing frame in a Tundra Town park. Not more than a metre off the ground but he broke his wrist."

Judy glanced at Nadine, familiar enough with her to spot her slight irritation.

"Heh," Nick chuckled. "Big bad wolf defeated by a kids' climbing frame."

"Nick, why don't you go tidy yourself up while I check out the cruiser?"

"Oh, I um, don't have anything here," he said sheepishly.

Judy raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. "Nothing? What's in your locker then?"

"Um, locker?"

She glanced around at the other two officers, knowing the same expression was on her own face.

"Rookie," Ralph pronounced with a shake of his head. "Come on Nadine, we'd best get started too."

"Actually," Judy interrupted, recognising the opportunity. "Can you help sort Nick out, Nadine? I'd like a quick word with Ralph."

It was subtle, but she caught it: a slight narrowing of the tigress's eyes. She wasn't going to formally submit to Nadine, and certainly not here, but she lowered her head slightly, turning away a bit as she did to look up at Nadine from the corner of her eye. Her big brown eyes softened a touch. "Fine. Come on, Nick."

Judy hopped up onto the nearest desk to put herself at Ralph's head height and waited while Nadine and Nick left. She turned to Ralph once they were gone. The wolf was looking at her curiously, clearly having no idea what this was about. "A word of advice," she said softly. "Most feline species aren't that keen on being called 'cats'."

He frowned. "I didn't call her a cat." He indicated the door the others had left through.

Judy grimaced. "Eeeeeh, directly or indirectly, it's a bit derogatory for most."

"Really?"

She nodded. "It's a respect thing - which is a _very_ big deal for tigers. Calling them cats means you can't be bothered - that they're not worth the effort - to identify their species properly."

"Huh." Ralph pondered that for a moment. "Okay, thanks for the heads-up." He turned to leave.

"Ralph."

He stopped and looked back.

"I meant it about respect. You two will get along much better if you can get a good level of mutual respect going sooner than later."

He nodded seriously. "Judy, Nadine's one of the best cops in the precinct on numbers alone. And the precinct _is_ my pack. There's no way I couldn't respect her."

"Good luck."

"Thanks." Ralph smiled, then he was gone.

Dropping to the floor with a sigh, Judy mentally crossed all her digits for her friends and set off to liberate the cruiser keys and track down her fox.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm _sorry_ , Judy."

Real name: he was being serious.

"This is literally the first Sunday of my _life_ that I've had to be awake by a set time."

She didn't answer, letting him stew a bit longer. In truth, she'd already forgiven him but he kept talking. He'd also managed to find time to dash to one of the shops near the precinct and pick her up some tea. Fruitier and sweeter than her preferred blends, it was still free tea so she wasn't going to complain.

"I visited my mum on Saturday afternoon," he admitted.

She perked up immediately. No way was she going to even pretend to be mad at him for doing something like that. "Really? How'd it go?"

He chuckled nervously. "It was... A bit awkward, a bit tense, and it took a while. I was over there for a slightly late lunch and ended up not leaving until gone midnight."

They pulled to a stop at a red light and Judy looked over at him, patting his arm. "The air's clear then?"

He shrugged non-committally. "Mostly. She knows more or less what I've been up to since I started hustling. Doesn't approve of most of it and is just a little-" he held up a paw, two fingers almost touching "-irritated with me for starting hustling while I was still in school and herself for not spotting it."

The light went green and Judy pulled away. She didn't say anything, not wanting to interrupt.

"She was... not enthusiastic about most of my misadventures but is happy that I've got a real job and might be settling down." He paused. "My least favourite part of it had to have been getting interrogated about my _love life_ ," he finished with a groan.

Judy snorted. "That's basically what parents do once you grow up, Slick. Doesn't matter how old you are, they'll ask if you're eating well and if you can't produce enough forensic evidence for an airtight case they'll make sure you get a proper meal when you visit. Any time you get injured, they'll be there. And yeah, anything vaguely to do with your love life is fair game for _the most_ embarrassing possible moments."

Nick nudged her. "Why did I let you talk me into this?" he asked jokingly.

"You know you love me," she teased, fondly recalling his first day.

"Eeh, not sure."

"Nick!"

He chuckled. "Sorry, Carrots."

"Jerk," she proclaimed, stopping at another light. She looked over to see his grin morph into a much more serious expression.

"Check it out," he said, nodding at something on the street outside. Judy looked around, frowning as she tried to spot whatever Nick had seen. "That goat with the green jacket," he clarified.

She found the mammal that Nick must mean - nobody else on the street was wearing a jacket remotely as thick - walking away from them over a hundred metres ahead. "What about him?" Aside from the odd choice of clothing she didn't see anything unusual - certainly nothing that would warrant their attention.

"We're in a... less upmarket part of the district," Nick explained. "There's a small park a block away. The kind of place that's a bit dirty, a bit overgrown. Used to have a good playground but is old and falling apart now."

Judy looked at him questioningly, not sure where he was heading with this.

"He'll probably have something to sell, Carrots," he said, disgust and contempt thickening in his voice. "A baggie of this, a tablet of that; easy to hide in the big pockets and lining. Something to let a few poor kids have some _fun_." He growled the last few words as Judy's face hardened in understanding.

She whipped back around, searching for the goat. "Carrot sticks! Where'd he go?" The light turned green just then so she pulled away slowly, still looking for any hint of green.

"Damn, didn't see! That alley, maybe?"

She rolled them to a stop in a parking bay. "Come on. Let's check it out."

There was nothing in the alley when they arrived, just a few bins and fire escapes for the buildings on either side. After a brief search, Judy reluctantly led Nick back to the cruiser, both of them uneasy.

"There's a cafe in the corner of the park," Nick mused.

Judy nodded and pulled away, unable to shake a vague feeling of disquiet.

Hours later, as she was clocking out, Judy still hadn't managed to throw off that feeling. She just _knew_ something was up. It was nothing definable, nothing she could put a finger on, but _something_ wasn't right. Some nagging instinct prodded at her, making her glance around cautiously as she left the precinct with Nick. _This is ridiculous. There's no monster or ghost or anything._

"Carrots?" There was a hint of concern in Nick's voice.

"Huh? Oh sorry, did you say something?"

"Yeah, just saying have a good night."

"Right! Yeah," she shook her head. "Yeah, thanks, you too." He nodded then after a moment made to turn away. "Nick," she blurted. He looked back, questioning. She hesitated; what could she say? "Be careful," came out eventually. "Ever since you spotted that goat..." She shrugged helplessly. "Something's not right."

"You really think so?" he asked. "He was just one creepy old goat." It was light-hearted but she could tell he was taking her seriously.

She nodded, biting her lip. "Yeah," she said with a sigh. "I just... Look, maybe it's nothing. But I'd rather be careful than not."

"Okay," he said after a moment. "I'll keep my eyes peeled. You gonna be okay getting home?"

"Yeah. Public transport almost all the way and I know everyone in my building. You?"

"The same. Bit of a walk in between but I'll keep an eye out for anybody creeping around." He patted the radio attached to the uniform he still wore. "And I'll be able to call for backup if I get into trouble."

She nodded gratefully. "Okay. See you tomorrow then."

"'Till tomorrow, Carrots," he threw back with a wink and a jaunty wave.

"Slick!" she called after him. "Don't be late!"

"Wouldn't dream of it, Carrots," he called over his shoulder. "Wouldn't _dream_ of it."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nick meandered casually along the familiar path to his home. It was a forced nonchalance, however. As paranoid as Judy's concerns sounded, he was feeling a little itchy himself, almost like someone was watching him. No matter how hard he tried to shake off the feeling, it persisted, sitting at the back of his mind like a splinter. Off-duty he might be, but his head was on a swivel, eyes darting around to scan every piece of the world he could without turning around, ears flicking and twitching as they provided rear coverage. His hearing might not be in the same league as Judy's but it was certainly good enough to catch someone trying to sneak up on him.

Although he made it home without incident, there were a couple of occasions when he could have sworn he heard something that might have been footsteps behind him. Of course there was nothing there when he turned to make sure.

He sighed as he dropped into his tatty old sofa with a bottle of water. One of the few perks of living here was that it was just about impossible to sneak in - you'd have to tunnel in by paw - so at least he'd be fine tonight. Looking over at where his uniform hung ready for tomorrow, Nick couldn't help the soft, proud smile that grew across his muzzle as he saw the faint light glinting off his badge. Brave, loyal, helpful, trustworthy; trust, integrity, bravery. Seven words that had shaped the course of his whole life - five really, but two had been given new meaning by a _bunny_. It was still hard to believe.

His smile faded as his mind turned to the goat that had creeped Judy out so badly. She'd parked the cruiser almost directly opposite the main entrance to the park and they'd walked down the street to the cafe. They'd just been finishing a decent lunch when Judy had spotted a pickpocket. The squirrel hadn't stood a chance of course, but he'd still tried to run. Judy had ordered him to stay put as she gave chase then vanished before he could protest.

Not wanting to disobey a direct order in his second week - and not having a clue where she'd vanished to - Nick resigned himself to waiting. That was when he'd caught sight of a familiar green jacket, the mammal wearing it already disappearing back around the side of a building several hundred metres away. He'd leapt out of his recently reclaimed seat with a growl, knowing even as he began to move that the goat would be long gone by the time he reached the building. Sure enough, there was no sign of him. Judy was waiting for him back at the cafe, foot thumping.

"I saw that jacket again," he'd explained before she could say anything. "He was gone again before I could get close."

Judy's foot had stopped and she'd nodded grimly. "Call out a pick-up for this one," she'd instructed. "We'll stick around here for a while."

The next few hours had consisted of little more than fairly tedious foot-patrol, the two of them wandering around the area on the off chance they'd find something interesting.

Nothing about the afternoon was weird. Some drug dealer scoping out a old, run-down park. They'd stopped him, for today at least, and caught a pickpocket to boot. None of that was particularly out of the ordinary for a cop, as far as he knew. But something had unsettled Judy. His unshakeable hero bunny was off-kilter. Nick trusted Judy's judgement: she'd been a cop for over a year now, her instincts would be settling into their role. His own were still adjusting so he leaned on her, hence the majority of his own disquiet.

He shook his head, standing up to begin getting ready for bed. He was safe here tonight, and Judy was safe at her apartment - he'd had a text from her to confirm that. Whatever was creeping them out, they'd figure it out. Judy was too stubborn and too good at her job for anything else.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soft panting filled the air, followed by a wet splat as he spat some blood out of his mouth. _Stupid filthy creature._ Grumbling continuously to himself, he carefully cleaned the body, making sure there was no trace of himself anywhere amongst the russet fur. Empty eye sockets stared rapturously at him as he worked, filled with silent gratitude for being chosen to aid _Her_ design.

 _Soon, Mistress._ He bowed his head in prayer. _With this offering and your pure will, we strike at the demons among us. Your light shall cleanse us of them and we shall know peace._

Lifting a hoof to his bloody mouth, he grunted in annoyance at the hideous wretch before hauling him up and carrying him to the car. Cocooning the body in a roll of industrial plastic sheeting, intended for protecting floors and furniture, he shoved it into the back seat. He didn't have long before daybreak, didn't have long to set everything in place, as it had to be before _Her_ power graced the world once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, and a cliff-hanger. You can have a cliff-hanger too :D


	21. Chapter 19: One's Random; Two's Coincidence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Arm flops over the edge of the cliff, hand scrabbling for purchase]  
> [Author hauls himself up onto flat ground and lies there panting]  
> "I'm not dead!"  
> My sincere apologies for taking such a long time to get this out and huge thanks to everyone who's sticking with this story despite my unreliability. I don't want to keep you from the chapter any longer so I'll explain my absence at the end. Please enjoy.

Six AM saw a rather dishevelled bunny shoving the front door to Precinct One open with a disgusted huff. She waved lethargically at the moose at the front desk as she trudged by on the way to the locker room.

To say that she had slept badly would be an understatement worthy of a politician. Her night had consisted of brief snippets of rest snatched between unpleasant dreams and tossing and turning as she tried to fall back to sleep. She'd been variously running from Bellweather and her goons in the museum - though without Nick and through endless rooms and halls, accosted by the eyeless doe she and Nadine had found months ago, and trying to hide from or fight a giant goat wearing a demented grin and a green jacket.

Pushing through into the gym a few minutes later, she glanced around the room and, finding it empty, crossed over to the sound system to plug her phone in and placed her water bottle down beside it. Her music collection was eclectic, certainly, but it was almost all lively, energetic stuff that was just as well suited to a work out as to dancing so she shrugged and set her phone to 'shuffle all', turning the volume down a bit to avoid disturbing anyone trying to work in the morning quiet.

She yawned extravagantly, stretching her arms overhead and behind then rolling her shoulders a few times before setting off at a casual jog around the room as the gentle, rhythmic opening to Fleetwood Yak's The Chain began to fill the large room. A couple of songs and a somewhat larger number of laps later she stopped by the table to grab a drink and stretch more thoroughly now that her muscles were warm.

She couldn't use much of the machinery in the gym yet, but that was due to change in the next couple of months when the annexe for smaller mammals would open. As it stood though, she made do with a few of the smaller free weights, the stretching area, and using the room as a running track - needing to jump _hard_ off a moving treadmill to turn it off generally being a bad idea. Feeling somewhat more awake, Judy decided to make it a strength morning, settling into a steady cycle of press-ups, squats, crunches, and similar exercises. The music ebbed and flowed around her as she lost herself in the rhythm of her breathing, in the steady pace of her movements, and in the satisfying burn in her muscles.

Focused entirely on maintaining her pace and form, Judy didn't notice the door opening or the fact that she now had company. That was, until she caught sight of a large foot out of the corner of her eye. With a grunt of surprise she wavered at the high point of a press-up and grimaced as the medicine ball - the smallest in the gym - slipped out of the hollow between her shoulder blades and neck. She sighed in relief as it rolled off her arm, fortunately avoiding her fingers. Pulling her knees up, she looked up, panting slightly, to see a most unexpected mammal.

"Ben?" The surprise in her voice was clear. It wasn't that the cheetah couldn't or shouldn't use the gym - far from it - but rather that she'd never once seen him in here.

"Hey, Judy," Ben responded glumly. "Sorry for disturbing you. I'll go."

She frowned, nose twitching as she thought about the situation. "Ben," she called firmly.

He ignored her, continuing to trudge towards the door.

Throwing a glare at his back, Judy leapt to her feet and darted between Ben and the door. "Hey, don't-" She was cut off as he tried to squeeze past her, ending up nudging her out of the way with his leg. With a growl of irritation, Judy jumped for the door, rebounding off the wall near the handle and turning to plant her feet solidly into Ben's ribs.

His breath left him in a huff as he stumbled backwards from the impact. Judy watched him rub his chest for a moment before he turned to look at her, a hurt expression on his face.

"Don't give me the kit eyes," she scolded. "You ignored me, then tried to do it again and pushed me out of the way." He looked down, still not saying anything. Judy fought down her irritation, not wanting this to become a real fight. "I'm sorry, Ben," she said. He still didn't look up.

Judy sighed and walked over to him. She placed a paw on his knee and looked up at his forlorn face. "What's wrong, Ben?" she asked softly. "I shouldn't have done that but you came in here for something then tried to leave as soon as you saw me." The big cheetah still refused to meet her gaze or say anything. She had her suspicions about his behaviour but how hard should she push? Nick was still a better judge of this kind of thing and she didn't want to make a mistake that would hurt her friend.

She dropped her paw after a moment along with her ears. "Do you want some help with any of these?" she asked, waving around at the various machines. He shook his head. "Can I help you with anything at all?" A slight pause, then a head shake with a muffled 'uh-uh'. It was her turn for a brief pause. "Do you want me to leave?"

This time his head shake was rapid and pronounced, vehemently dismissing the notion. Judy was just about to suggest dropping it and allowing him to leave when the large cheetah spoke.

"You were here, you should be able to keep doing your thing without wasting your time." His voice was quiet, heavy with shame and guilt.

_On me,_ she finished for him in her head. She desperately wanted to comfort him, feeling wretched for her friend, but didn't think he'd appreciate her pushing herself into his personal space now.

"Ben," she began softly, not entirely sure how she was going to continue.

" _I know!_ " he exclaimed. "I _know_ I eat too much. I _know_ , alright‽" He closed his eyes and turned away.

Judy was shocked almost beyond words. This was not what she'd expected. Before she could decide what to do he was talking again.

"I want to do better, I do!" He sighed heavily. "But I don't know how. It's been so long since I've been fit I can't remember how to use any of this." He looked back at her and she almost recoiled at the anguish in his gaze. "I don't know how to fix this," he said venomously, gesturing at himself. "And nobody needs to help me. Not when they've got real work to do." He slumped against the wall then slowly slid down to sit on the floor, hiding his face in his paws.

Judy licked her lips, her whole mouth suddenly very dry. "Ben," she croaked. "I would _never_ think helping a friend was a waste of time."

He gave a muffled snort. "Of course it's a waste of time. Especially for you." His voice was muted behind his paws but she could still make out the words and the emotions clearly enough. "You know how long I've made excuses?" he asked bitterly.

She couldn't take it any more and reached out to place a paw on his arm. "Ben," she said softly, "helping you would be the _opposite_ of wasting time. I'm the one who couldn't sleep and decided to come in and kill time in here. I will _always_ help you if you ask."

Ben had stiffened as she touched him and now he quaked with what sounded suspiciously like a sob. "Six _years_ , Judy. Six gods-damned years I sat there eating. Then you turn up and in a month you tear the world apart and start fixing it. In less than a year you've _saved a kit's life_ , got a fox on the force, and..." he trailed off, finally dropping his paws from his face. He turned his puffy, wet eyes to her. "I heard about how hard you worked to get here; I see how hard you work now. It just made be think that maybe it's not impossible. But I'm not going to let you spend time fixing one stupid, broken cheetah when you should be doing so much more."

Judy almost wanted to punch him he was being so thick-headed. She restrained herself mostly because she didn't want to upset him any more. "You are _not_ stupid, Ben. And you are _not_ broken," she insisted. She rubbed his arm gently. "I didn't do any of that stuff alone, you know. I had help from my friends for all of it. Like you said, I've only been here a year and that's not counting the two months of medical leave. The only reason I'm not a rookie is because Nick and the others have taken that title, not because I'm an amazing Officer."

She stepped in front of him, opening her arms in a calculated gesture. Ben hesitated, then with feline swiftness pulled her into his chest, squeezing hard enough that it became a little difficult to breathe. She patted his shoulder awkwardly, not able to reach much else. "I'm not gonna pry, Ben," she said into the side of his jaw, "but if you want to talk, I'll listen." A loud sniff was his only response. "Okay then," she continued after a moment. "So you want to get fit again but don't know where to start?"

He shook his head sharply, the movement jostling her uncomfortably. "No, Judy. You-"

"Oh don't start with that again, you silly thing!" she exclaimed, cutting him off. "Firstly, I would _not_ be wasting time by helping you. Second, you don't get to tell me what to do. Third, I became an Officer to make the world a better place. That means for _everyone_ and if I can help you, I _want_ to."

He sighed and relaxed his hug enough for him to meet her eyes. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

Judy just grinned at him.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some time later, Judy stepped out of the locker room much happier and more awake than she'd been when arriving that morning. Her good mood lasted until she turned her ears towards the front desk.

"-victim is a male red fox-"

"Nick!" she squeaked, her ears plummeting. She bolted for the desk, scampering around a hippo that might have been Higgins and leaping up onto it. The moose manning it spared a moment to throw her an annoyed glare which she ignored utterly.

"Understood," he said gruffly. "Stevenson and Michaels should be with you inside of five minutes. Dispatch out."

"Who-"

"Get off the damn desk, rabbit."

Judy blinked, taken aback. "Who was that?" she asked coolly.

He waved a hoof at her, shooing her away. "I said _off_."

She growled and stomped forward, batting his hoof aside. " _Who. Was. **That**?_ " she demanded through clenched teeth. "My _partner_ is a red fox."

His face crumpled into a frown. "How did you-"

Judy sneered and pointed at her ears. "You think these are for show?" she spat. " _What is going on?_ "

The moose was looking uncomfortable now. "Officer Wilde was calling in-"

"He's okay?"

Now he looked confused. "Yes. He was calling in a body that he'd found..." He trailed off, eyes going wide. "Oh crap!"

Judy had slumped in relief at the confirmation. She looked back up as the moose gave his exclamation and raised an eyebrow. He raised a hoof to rub at his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Hopps," he said in a rough voice. "I'm finishing the second part of a double shift in about seven minutes. Looks like my brain's already packed up though."

"Alright," she said cautiously. "Sorry about climbing up here. I just heard 'victim' and 'red fox' and got worried."

"It's okay, I get it. But um, can you...?"

She nodded and slid down to the floor. _He's fine, silly,_ she scolded herself. _Just because you had a weird feeling yesterday doesn't mean anything bad's really going on._ Her right ear twitched sharply, a symptom of stress she'd not experienced in years. She took a series of deep breaths to calm herself as she walked away from the desk, heading for the cubicles. _It's fine. There's more than one red fox in the city._.

Pacing around the office area, too anxious to sit and even attempt to pretend to work, Judy found herself utterly unable to relax. She just couldn't convince herself that everything was okay and was straining to hear anything that might mark the arrival of her fox. Her own first experience of a real corpse weighed heavily on her mind, her gut twisting unpleasantly at both the memories and at the fact that Nick, like herself, was first seeing a real body of his own species.

Eventually, after what seemed like an interminable wait, she heard the front door open and the distinctive cadence of Nick's claws on the polished floor. Beaming, she darted back out into the lobby. Her face fell as she caught sight of Nick. The fox was slumped, ears back, tail limply held barely off the floor, and wearing a smirk that was more of a grimace. She slid to a stop before she crashed into him and gently placed a paw on his arm as he turned to her.

"Hey, Carrots," he said in a level tone.

She gave him a look but didn't press. _Never let them see that they get to you._ "Come on," she said softly. Gently tugging on his arm, she led him off towards their shared cubicle.

"Wait here," she instructed, pushing him gently into his chair. He nodded non-committally and she cast one more concerned glance at him before padding away.

She returned a few minutes later with a large mug of strong, dark coffee. Nick hadn't moved, still sitting limply in the chair. His nose twitched twice at the smell of the coffee but that was all.

"Hey, partner," she whispered, hating to see him like this.

Nick shuddered, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. His features relaxed - though his posture remained stiff - and he forced himself to grin, clearly attempting to act as though nothing was wrong.

She placed a paw on his arm and offered him the coffee. He reached for it with a grateful sigh, stopping and turning to her in puzzlement when she didn't let go.

"Do you want to take the day?" Judy asked simply.

Nick hesitated then shook his head. "Nah, Fluff, I'm good. Just need a little brain bleach and that coffee will do well to start with."

She looked at him seriously, making sure to hold his gaze as she spoke. "You don't need to hide from me, Nick. 'Never let them see they get to you'; I'm not 'them' though."

His gaze softened after a moment and she released the coffee. He pulled it to his chest, cupping it with both paws. "I hear you, Carrots," he said wearily. "I- There's just some bad memories..."

Judy nodded understandingly. "I get that, Nick. Remember what happened when I..." she trailed off, waving a paw in lieu of saying anything else out loud. "I'm here for you, just like you were there for me."

Nick sighed heavily then took a sip of the coffee. "Later, Carrots, not here."

She hesitated, not wanting to leave it alone, then nodded reluctantly, knowing it would be a mistake to push him right now. "Okay. If you're sure." She waited a moment then spoke up again when he remained silent. "So, finish up your coffee and get yourself ready for the bullpen."

"Right," he replied with a facsimile of his usual energy. "Want me to look at any of your paperwork-"

She waved a paw, cutting him off. "Nope. I got it, you relax. I need my partner, not a zombie fox."

He smiled weakly and raised the mug in salute. "Gotcha."

Judy hesitated then turned towards her side of the cubicle. "I'm really glad you're okay," she blurted. _No! Stupid,_ stupid _rabbit! He doesn't need to comfort a dumb, emotional bunny right now!_ She heard a clink as he put the mug down then step across to her.

"Carrots," he said simply.

She took a deep breath and let it judder out of her. "I heard a report of a red fox being found," she whispered, unable to help herself. A large, warm paw covered her entire right shoulder and she closed her eyes, biting her lip.

"Judy."

She sniffed, closing her eyes, determined not to cry. "I'm glad you're okay," she repeated thickly.

Later, Judy was never able to remember who moved first; all she knew of was the hug. Nick's long arms wrapped all the way around her, her own grip just as tight; his tail curled around her legs; her head snuggled against his right shoulder, his jaw pressing against her lowered ear. "I'm here," he whispered, his voice felt more than heard. "I'm right here."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nick was torn. On the one paw, their patrol had been boring so far and one of them would usually have started a conversation about _something_ by now. On the other, the only thing he could think of was Judy's behaviour that morning. The trouble was, he knew that would lead straight back to him. It wasn't as though he _wanted_ to hide from Judy: she was right to say that she wasn't 'them'. She was his friend, the amazing little rabbit that had turned his life upside-down and around and cleaned up all the mess that had fallen out of it.

 _"You don't need to hide from me, Nick."_ The words echoed in his mind as he looked at her, idly tapping the wheel as she waited for the lights to change. He didn't want to - didn't need to - hide from her, but it was now a _very_ ingrained habit to try to break. Plus, knowing her, if he gave her any hint of more mess in his life she'd just grab hold and shake it until every last crumb came tumbling out. He couldn't put all that on her too; it wasn't fair.

"Nick?"

"Huh?" he jerked, looking around in surprise. "Sorry, what?"

"I asked what you wanted to do for lunch."

"Right." He stopped and frowned. "Isn't it a bit early?"

She shrugged, not looking away from the road. "Didn't sleep well and got in really early so I'm already getting hungry."

Nick glanced at the clock on the centre console. "Carrots, it's not even eleven yet."

"I know," she whined. "We don't have to _go_ now, but I want to know where we should be so when we go on break it's as short a wait as possible."

"Won't talking about food just make you hungrier?"

"Maaaaaaaaaybe," she admitted, glancing his way. "But there's not much else to do right now."

Nick sighed. Learning, she may be, but she still had the subtlety of a farmer. "Let's head 'round to the Bayes underpass and hang out with the radar gun for a bit. There are some decent options 'round there too."

"Okay," Judy chirped, nodding decisively. "Any particular favourites?"

Nick frowned, concentrating. He'd been playing along, not really expecting a serious discussion about lunch. "There's a place near there that does pretty good burritos," he mused. "Dunno what their prey selection's like but I've never been disappointed."

"Hmm." Judy paused to examine the traffic at the junction they were at, though one ear remained pointing directly at him, indicating she was still part of the conversation and intended to answer. Spotting a gap in the traffic, she slid the big cruiser into gear then smoothly pulled out. Nick let out the breath he'd semi-unconsciously been holding: that hadn't been the biggest gap and she insisted on using the gearbox on manual. He was under no illusion that Judy was the better driver in their partnership - there was no way could he have pulled off that move.

"I'm sure I'll find something," she said, throwing him a smile. "And anyway, I think it's pretty hard to mess up a veggie burrito!"

Nick chuckled. He couldn't help it: she was always so energetic. "I dunno, Fluff," he drawled. "You haven't seen me try to make a burrito."

Judy giggled and Nick found himself smiling. "I would be seriously impressed if you managed to mess up a burrito that badly, Slick."

He snorted. "Remind me to bring stuff in some day and I'll prove it."

"I'll hold you to that."

The conversation trailed off into an uncomfortable quiet. Judy obviously wanted to talk to him but was uncertain - and it didn't take a genius to know why. Nick had - not _resigned_ himself as such - but _accepted_ that they'd be talking about things he'd not usually share and that the conversation might move into uncomfortable territory. His real problem was that it hadn't started yet and waiting, knowing what was coming, was twisting his stomach into a knot.

A few minutes later Judy turned onto the trunk road that in little over a kilometre dived down into the underpass that was their destination. Nick could feel the tension thickening with every passing moment and tugged at his collar nervously. Before he quite knew it, Judy had pulled over in the lay-by reserved for police vehicles and turned the engine off. She threw him a soft smile before hopping out to collect the portable radar gun from the boot.

_I can do this. Actually, it's Carrots so I_ have _to do this._

Wrapped up in his thoughts, Nick nearly didn't notice Judy as she got back into the cruiser and set up the radar gun. A couple of minutes later, once the dash cam stopped recording, Judy shifted and glanced at him but didn't say anything.

He sighed heavily and hung his head. "I saw a badger, once," he mumbled. "Homeless. Froze to death on a street corner." Out of the corner of his eye he saw Judy nod. "I don't know why this is so..." he trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"That doe Nadine and I found at the end of last year," Judy began quietly. "With a family as big as mine... It wasn't the first body or the first dead doe I've seen. It's different, though." Nick looked at her, curious. "I don't know how much of it is the difference between dying of old age - or illness - at home, with family, and the fact that she was murdered, and how much is to do with the fact that now I'm a cop, it's my job to stop things like that happening." She was silent for a moment. "Maybe it was because of how obviously she'd been attacked..."

Nick looked down at his lap, not sure how to respond. He started when he felt a small paw on his arm. Looking up, he found himself practically nose-to-nose with Judy as she leaned over the centre console to reach him.

"It doesn't matter if you can't explain everything, Nick, but it might help if you try," she said gently. "I can see how much it's bothering you."

He closed his eyes, fighting a sudden urge to pull her into a hug. After a few deep breaths, he began to speak, keeping his eyes closed, concentrating on the feel of her paw. "This morning... It was the second time I've seen a dead tod," he admitted. "And..." He bit the inside of his lip, unable to continue.

"Someone you knew?" came the hesitant prompt.

A beat. "My dad," he confessed. Judy stiffened and let out a small gasp. Opening his eyes, unable to bear the memories filling his mind, Nick stared into his partner's brilliant violet eyes, trying to focus on the glimmering yet utterly distinctive colour in the hope it would anchor him in the present. He barrelled on before she could say anything, somehow knowing he had to finish now that he'd started.

"Some horse - drunk, high, I dunno. I was five or six. Dad was walking me home from nursery or school or whatever. He stole a moped and was trying to get away from the cops; mounted the pavement. Dad shoved me out of the way." Dimly, he was aware that Judy was now stroking his arm. The purple he was hanging onto was shimmering more than ever. "At least he got knocked off by the hit. Didn't even have a chance to stand up before the cops showed. I think they tried to talk to me. I don't really remember much else, just kneeling there next to my dad, asking him to get up. The ground all 'round his head was red. I knew why. Didn't believe it."

Nick stopped, barely able to breathe past the lump in his throat. He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that would help with the stinging. Tears that had been gathering, unnoticed, ran down his muzzle as he took a shaky breath and forced his eyes open once more, needing his anchor. Judy was staring at him intently, her mouth open in a little 'o' of distress, silent tears tracing dark lines through her fur. She abruptly moved, startling him as she pulled back, standing in her seat and then climbing across to stand between his legs. Taking a gentle hold of his head, she leaned in until their noses were touching.

"His flesh is gone; he lives in you."

Nick blinked, trying to work out what was going on. That didn't sound like Judy. He abruptly had to fight off a sneeze as she rubbed her smaller, drier nose against his own sensitive nose pad. Before he could recover from that, Judy was tipping her head forward, gently pulling on the sides of his own head to get him to mirror the motion. She closed her eyes as their foreheads pressed together and Nick could feel her tears mingling with his.

"What was his name?" she murmured.

"John," he responded just as quietly.

"John Wilde," she intoned, the note of formality back in her voice. "We here remember; we give thanks for all you provided. May your eternal dream be peaceful and undisturbed."

Nick's heart clenched, knowing instinctively that this was not something shared lightly. He felt honoured that Judy was trusting him with it. He felt a crushing weight at the knowledge of his father's death. He closed his eyes, feeling her tears and the trembling that betrayed her nearly silent sobs. Tears for him; for his loss. Leaning into her embrace, Nick let himself weep. For the first time in twenty years he didn't try to hide from anything.

He wasn't aware of time passing, really. The radio crackled once but he was too caught up in his emotions to pay any attention to it. Judy pulled away briefly to answer it - a low murmur that he didn't bother trying to understand. Then she was back and nothing else mattered.

Eventually his tears began to dry. To his surprise, though his loss was still painful, it was no longer unbearable. He could think of it without needing to fight a wave of distress. Breathing heavily, he gradually became aware of the signals his nose was pushing into his brain. Familiar and warm, soft - could something smell _soft_? - and rabbit. He pulled in a deep breath through his nose, savouring the comforting scent that was entirely _Judy_.

He opened his eyes properly and suddenly realised where his nose was and exactly why he could smell her so clearly. Her bodysuit was porous enough to allow some airflow and even with her claw vest in the way, his nose was still essentially pressed into the top of her chest.

"Hey, Fluff," he rasped.

"Hey, Slick," she whispered back, opening her eyes.

"Thanks." She nodded but didn't say anything. He gently nudged her with his nose. "You might want to back up a bit."

She pulled back, the motion not a panicked or embarrassed jerk, but a slow, deliberate withdrawal. "Are you okay, Slick?" she asked softly.

"Yeah," he responded slowly, "I think I am."

"I'd like to know more about him. I can't keep my promises properly if I don't know more about him."

"Promises?"

She nodded. "To remember and to thank." He cocked his head, thinking back, then nodded slowly. "Not right now though," she added with a hint of firmness in her voice. "When you're ready, Nick."

He nodded slowly. "Yeah..." He took a deep breath then huffed it out with a shake of his head, trying to clear it. "Foxes don't work too well when they get this emotional," he said flatly, trying for a bit of normalcy.

Judy patted his arm with an understanding smile. " _Cops_ don't work too well when they're that emotional," she retorted gently. "I think you're working just fine, foxy."

He shrugged, not sure how to respond to the sincerity in her voice, and glanced at the clock. "Holy..." Suddenly aware of the clawing emptiness in his stomach, he looked back at Judy, eyes wide. "Lunch?" It was nearly a plea.

She moved back across to her seat but made no move to start the cruiser, instead kneeling on the seat and facing him. "If you want the dash cam running for this bit then sure."

He frowned. "This bit?"

"This morning, Slick. We've talked about your dad and I think I know what's coming, but..."

He looked away to hide his petulant expression. _Haven't I given you enough‽_ he snarled to himself. Immediately he felt bad. Judy was trying to help. He leaned back in his seat, thumping his head against the headrest. "So it was another dead tod lying on the pavement," he said shortly. "It reminded me of dad and I kind of locked up a bit." He paused, expecting a surge of distress. When all he felt was a dull ache of loss, he shrugged. "Obviously I called it in but I was kind of on autopilot until I got in. Then you were there and snapped me out of it and now we're here."

Judy looked at him with a raised eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. For a moment he thought she might try to force more out of him but then, to his relief, she shrugged and turned away to sit down properly. "So where's this burrito place then?"

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vivian Wilde was in the middle of preparing dinner - a simple but tasty casserole - when she heard a kit squeal through the open kitchen window.

"Officer Judy!"

"Freddie!"

She bristled slightly. A squeal like that usually meant trouble, and if it was the rabbit Officer, the trouble was likely for her. Still, the vixen's curiosity was aroused: why would one of the local kits be on first-name terms with her? Keeping the motion subtle to avoid drawing attention to herself, Vivian shifted to get a view out through the window as she heard the rabbit's high, clear laugh. To her astonishment, she saw the kit - Sarah's son - leap for the Officer, practically tackling her. Somehow the rabbit kept her feet, despite the impact of a mammal nearly her own size.

"How're ya doing, kitto?" she asked cheerily, disentangling herself.

"Awesome!" he replied enthusiastically.

"Really?" Judy chuckled. "That's great. And how's your mum?"

"Much better than the last time you saw me, Officer," came a new voice. A moment later Sarah walked into Vivian's field of view, smiling.

"Please," the rabbit said, holding her paws up. "Just 'Judy' when I'm out of uniform."

Sarah hesitated then nodded. "What brings you here then, Judy? I doubt you're coming to check up on us."

Judy opened her mouth then slowly closed it, her face falling. "No," she said quietly. "I'm sorry. I should have-"

"Nonsense!" Sarah proclaimed, waving the unfinished thought away. She knelt in front of the bunny. "You _saved my son's life_ , Judy. There's nothing I could ever do to repay you for that and nothing you could do to ever owe me anything."

_She saved Freddie's life?_ Vivian frowned. That was the second fox she'd heard of this bunny rescuing. _Oh my!_ Her paws flew to her muzzle as she recalled the crash several months ago. _Judy saved Freddie from_ that _? Wasn't there a petrol leak?_ She recalled the news from that evening: how a ZPD officer had gone to rescue a trapped kit and how they'd both nearly burned alive. She'd visited Sarah and Freddie in the hospital the following day after Sarah had texted her to call off their lunch and hadn't missed the way the younger vixen had clung to her kit.

Reeling, she missed the much quieter end of the conversation and only just noticed in time that Sarah and Freddie were continuing on their way and the r- _Judy_ was approaching her home. She quickly pulled back from the window, taking a few deep - though shaky - breaths to help steady herself. A moment later there was a dull electronic buzz as Judy pressed the buzzer for her apartment. She hesitated, then grabbed her keys before leaving her apartment.

The front door to the building was a tad large for her to use comfortably and stiff to boot, thanks to a slightly warped frame, so it popped open quite abruptly when she yanked on it. Looking down at the surprised rabbit, Vivian ignored everything but the question she needed an answer to.

"Why?"

Judy blinked and recoiled slightly. "Um... Ah, sorry, but ah, why _what_?"

Vivian gestured down the street with her muzzle. "I heard about the crash; how dangerous it was to rescue Freddie. Why did you do that?"

The rabbit's ears slowly fell and her face grew more serious. "It didn't matter how dangerous it was. Someone was stuck in there. I might have been able to help." She paused, looking Vivian in the eye. "I had to try."

Vivian crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. It wasn't that she didn't believe the bunny but she wanted more than that. "You nearly died," she pointed out flatly. She nearly continued but at the last moment held her tongue, choosing to wait and see how the rabbit reacted.

She sighed and looked down. "Yeah. I could have," she said in a small voice. After a moment she looked back up, her eyes burning with determination. "But my dream has always been to make the world a better place; I became an Officer to _help_ people. I don't think I could have lived with myself if I didn't try and Freddie died because of that."

Vivian waited a moment to see if she would say anything else, then nodded. "Come in," she offered.

"Thank you ma'am," Judy replied cautiously.

Vivian laughed as she stepped around the bunny to shove the door closed. "I'm not that old, young lady," she chided.

Judy's ears dropped like someone had attached weights to the ends. "Oh, no, I didn't- I mean- It's- I-" she stammered.

She waved away the unfinished words and tried to reassure the rabbit as she led her up the stairs towards her apartment. "Calm down, you'll hurt yourself if you carry on like that."

Judy fell silent then and remained quiet until they reached Vivian's apartment.

"Welcome to my home, Judy," she said calmly. "Please, come in."

The rabbit hesitated. "Missus Wilde, I don't want to intrude-"

"Come in, please," Vivian interrupted her with a little thread of steel in her voice.

Judy's mouth opened, as if to protest further, before closing as she dipped her head in a nod of acceptance. Vivian closed the door behind her and led her through to the small living room. She gestured at the old sofa, taking her own spot in her armchair. She studied the rabbit before her curiously: what had brought her here?

"I'd like to apologise, Missus Wilde, if I said anything insulting," Judy said sincerely - so sincerely in fact that Vivian took a moment to assess whether she was being mocked. _Since when does a rising star cop apologise to a cranky old fox?_

"I'm trying to learn about foxes so I don't make that kind of mistake," the bunny continued, "but Nick is my only real reference point, and he's not the most open mammal."

Vivian's face softened. "It's alright Judy," she said reassuringly. "What you said wasn't really insulting; I was being a little dramatic, that's all." The rabbit looked at her dubiously. She grinned toothily - in part to see how the bunny reacted to being stuck in a strange room with muzzle full of sharps on display. "For foxes, 'ma'am' is mostly used within families for an elder matriarch," she explained, pleasantly surprised to see that Judy didn't appear at all bothered by her grin. "It's still a respectful form of address - in fact more so than you probably realise - but it does imply I'd be carrying around a few more years than I am.

"Now, I owe you both an apology and some gratitude." She changed the subject deliberately, hoping to prevent Judy from working herself up again. As expected, her words caused the bunny to start shaking her head. "Nicky's told me more about how you two met and worked together. I can't say I approve of it all," she said pointedly, fixing the young rabbit with her best 'disappointed mother' glare, "but I know I misjudged you.

"You saved my son - and not just metaphorically. You've been in the news a few times as well, you know? And now I know it was you that saved Freddie. Sarah - his mum - is a good friend: her older sister and I went to school together. You may have stumbled last year, but the pattern is clear: you're a good mammal, Judy." Vivian stood and crossed over to the sofa, kneeling in front of her guest. "I'm sorry for how I treated you before, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for saving my son, and my godson."

Judy just blinked so Vivian acted, pulling the rabbit into a tight hug. After a moment when she was worried she might be pushed away, she felt small, soft paws and surprisingly strong arms wrapping around her in return.

Several minutes later, once the emotional bunny had calmed down, she felt able to ask, "Now then, dear, what can I help you with?"

Judy shifted uncomfortably but didn't look away. "It's been a... tough week," she said slowly. "Being a police officer has it's darker sides." Her jaw worked for a moment before she continued. "Nick had a... A rough morning on Monday and he's been kind of down and more distant than usual since then." Vivian frowned, knowing the rabbit wasn't telling her everything. "We've got tomorrow and Friday off," she explained. "I want to cheer him up, get his mind off things." She looked down, wringing her paws for a moment, then back at her. "I was hoping you could tell me what his favourite meal was? Or a film he likes?"

Vivian blinked in surprise, not having expected the rabbit to ask about a fox's favourite food. _Is she planning on cooking for him? Is she...?_ Her eyes narrowed slightly and Judy looked down again.

"I just want to cheer him up," she said softly. "I thought something he has good memories of would help."

Vivian studied the small mammal before her carefully. _Even if she is, Nicky wouldn't,_ she decided. A smile slowly spread across her muzzle as she shook that unpleasant thought away and focused on the fact that this little bunny, of all mammals, was going to such effort to cheer her son up. She grasped the fidgeting paws before her, looking Judy in the eye as the sheepish rabbit lifted her gaze once more. "I think I have exactly what you need."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me just thank you all once again for putting up with this. I know from personal experience how frustrating it can be to see such a huge wait between chapters of a work you're following. I appreciate each and every one of you that are choosing to stick with this attempt at a complete, coherent story.
> 
> So what happened to me? Well, unfortunately I completely lost the inspiration to write after the first couple of hundred words of this chapter. Not wanting to force out something for the sake of it, I let it sit for a while. Just as I was beginning to think I might get back into it of course, work went nuts at pretty much the same time I was having to get everything I was then working on sorted so I could take a couple of weeks off for a holiday with my family.
> 
> I tried to write a bit during that break but, well, let's just say I'm glad I never inflicted any of that on you. Then I got back and life was a whirlwind of preparing for a 100-mile charity cycling event, house hunting-related stuff and dealing with a stroppy landlord. Oh and the DVLA had the wrong address for me so there was an *issue* with car tax that was a _pleasure_ to deal with.
> 
> Regardless, here it is at last and life should be calming down a bit, so I hope I'll be able to get back into a fortnightly release pattern.


	22. Chapter 20: A Favour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I didn't quite make the fortnight, but I'm a lot closer than I have been recently! I'm not 100% sure about how this chapter turned out and am equally unsure about how to improve it - please make sure to leave some comments to let me know what you all think!

Nick was wrenched from his pleasant doze by an insistent beeping from his phone. He groaned in disgust and contemplated ignoring it. A few minutes later he jerked awake again as it beeped once more. Muttering to himself, the words incomprehensible as they were swallowed by his pillow, he reached blindly for the phone and pulled it into his bed. With a sigh he cracked open an eye to check the screen.

> `Hey Slick. You free? I've been meaning to get a couple of things done for a while and could use a paw.`

"Uurrhgmph." He was going to have to get up, wasn't he?

> `Slick? Stop trying to come up with an excuse not to help ;)`

Nick rolled onto his back and levered his other arm out from wherever it had gotten tangled inside the blankets in preparation to reply. The phone pinged again.

> `Please? *doe eyes*`

Despite himself, Nick snorted in amusement.

> `You know that doesn't work over text right?`

Her reply came barely a moment later. He chuckled then sighed, tapping out a reply before hauling himself out of bed. He stretched languorously then froze before turning towards his bathroom with a glare. For a moment he pondered skipping the shower - if Judy needed help with lifting or moving or decorating he'd need one later anyway. "She owes me for this," he muttered, deciding that he should at least not turn up smelling, well, like a fox. Taking a deep breath, he turned towards the bathroom and marched in to accept his fate. On the bed, his phone screen still showed the end of the conversation:

> ``
> 
> `*doe eyes intensify*`
> 
> `Alright! FIne. Turn it off xD. I'll be over in half an hour.  
> `

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Judy's phone dinged. She quickly wiped her paws and went to check it. It was Nick, letting her know he was just up the street since the apartment buzzers rarely worked. She smiled, taking a last look around, making sure everything was ready before darting to the stairs. If he was left waiting for even a second he'd ham it up and make sure to text even earlier in future.

Less than a minute later she was pulling open the door with a big grin. A grin than became so smug it almost hurt when she saw Nick's expression and his paw raised to knock. Not wanting to turn the smugness down far enough to talk she just pointed to her ears.

Nick huffed, crossing his arms as his ears plastered back. "I hate you," he grumbled.

Judy noticed his nose twitch a moment later and turned quickly, walking away before the surprise was ruined. "Come on, Slick," she teased over her shoulder. "I'll find a way to make it up to you." He didn't look convinced. Feeling suddenly bold, she had a terrible idea. It wasn't her fault, really; she was still riding the endorphin high from sneaking around to prepare everything and anticipating his reaction.

_It's still a_ terrible _idea!_ part of her warned. _You_ are _a_ rabbit _, remember?_

Her tail twitched.

Nick's eyes darted down and she had to suppress a giggle as she turned away. _He really likes fluffy things, doesn't he?_ She heard the front door close and began to walk up the stairs, allowing the slightest hint of extra motion in her hips - just enough to cause the tip of her tail to tick from side to side.

Her smile faded as she realised exactly what she was doing. _Oh gods!_ She reached the first floor landing and stepped around the thin partition wall, making _sure_ she was out of Nick's sight before she grabbed her ears and pulled them down to her mouth. _Sweet cheese and crackers!_ she yelled at herself. _He's your friend, you dumb bunny! The_ last _thing you need is for him to actually play with your tail- Can foxes even tell when a doe's-_

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. If she got worked up, he'd ask what was wrong and that was a conversation she didn't really want to have. Hearing the creak of the one-but-top step, she let go of her ears and pasted on a grin. Nick stepped into view, a quizzical expression on his face.

"Did you move? Last I checked you were on this floor."

"Nope," she chirped as enthusiastically as she could. "I'm still here. But everything's set up on the roof. It um..." she dropped her gaze. "Wouldn'tallfitinmyroom."

She glanced up to see Nick looking at her askance. "Carrots," he said carefully. "This isn't some arts and crafts thing, is it? Because glue and long fur don't play nice together." She shook her head but before she could reply the fox was talking again. "Modern art? I don't really fancy you using my tail as a paintbrush."

She giggled, despite herself, and Nick smiled. "There's my cheery bunny," he crooned. "Come on, let's get up there. I know you've got something planned."

Judy froze. "No I don't," she began to protest.

"Carrots," Nick said, cutting her off. "I don't know who told you you could lie, but they were much better at it than you." He tapped his nose then pointed back at his ears. "Everything's twitching. I think you've got the worst poker face I've ever seen."

She crossed her arms and pouted grumpily before spinning on her heel and leading the way up the stairs to the next floor. It was exaggerated of course, a screen to mask her relief that he'd not realised what was really going on. Plus, it kept her a little further away from him - a good thing for several reasons right then.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nick sniffed subtly as Judy turned to carry on up the stairs. She was obviously hiding something, and that smell... He climbed the stairs, trying to work out what was going on and ignore the way his eyes wanted to flick down from Judy's head to her tail. He wasn't sure if the twitch that had first drawn his eye had been deliberate or just part of the 'everything twitches' flaw he'd pointed out in her poker face but either way, it was now hard not to notice it. Especially since she was a couple of steps ahead of him on the stairs, placing her tail almost exactly at his eye level.

 _It's her_ tail _! You can't just grab it,_ he scolded himself. His eyes darted down from the back of her head again and he found himself trapped once more. On the one paw, it would utterly destroy their friendship. On the other, it would probably be the softest, most perfectly fuzzy bit of fluff he'd ever touch. He wrenched his gaze away as Judy pushed the door to the roof open, allowing a slight breeze to carry fresh air into the stairwell.

Nick was so busy scolding himself that it took another four steps - until he was standing in the doorway - for his brain to process what his nose was screaming at him. He froze, a cold tingle of shock racing down his spine and puffing his tail. His ears laid back and he looked at Judy, wide-eyed. "C- Carrots," he croaked, his throat suddenly tight. "What am I smelling?"

She turned to him, smiling warmly, and beckoned. When he didn't move she came back and took his paw, gently tugging to lead him around the side of the stairwell. "I wanted to cheer you up," she said simply as he gawked, mouth literally hanging open at the sight before him.

Two small disposable barbecues, already lit and nearly reading to cook on captured his attention first. Next, what was either a large pillow or a small mattress, along with some smaller cushions and a pile of blankets. A neat little folding table held a laptop, a loudspeaker of some sort on the ground next to it. He inhaled and was nearly floored by a scent he was sure he was mis-remembering. Looking back at the barbecues, he spotted two chopping boards of vegetables. And a third next to them.

"Carrots," he began shakily.

She placed a paw on his arm. "Are you okay?" she asked softly.

He swallowed, as much to clear some saliva as to give himself a moment. Turning to her, he looked right into Judy's eyes. "Am I smelling what I think I'm smelling?"

"I asked your mum about food you liked-"

Nick cut her off with a raised paw, not looking away. "Judy," he said seriously, somehow keeping his voice steady despite his suddenly racing heart. "Did you really go and buy..." He trailed off as she nodded, a mischievous smile on her face.

"I got some pretty weird looks," she confessed, tugging him over towards the pillows. "Now you sit down, grab yourself a drink and turn yourself off then on again," she finished with a giggle, pushing him back.

He fell back onto what was definitely a mattress - pillows didn't use springs, after all - and stared at her, unable to stop himself from scenting the air repeatedly as he tried to convince himself this was real. A moment later he processed what she'd actually said and automatically began to grin as she spun away. He wasn't sure, but the insides of her ears might have been a touch pinker than before.

"Not a word, Nick. Or you won't get lunch."

That stopped him cold. He couldn't take that kind of chance. All but biting his lip to keep himself quiet, Nick decided that following Judy's instructions was probably a good idea and reached for the cool box that had been hidden under the folding table. Glancing over the selection of beers and soft drinks, he found a couple of bottles of water and pulled one free. He'd just taken a sip when a sharp sizzling reached his ears and his head snapped up, eyes wide as he confirmed what was going on.

"You don't have to-" he blurted.

He began to rise, only to be stopped cold by a raised bunny finger. "Hush."

As he'd stopped while in the process of pushing himself to his feet, he found himself falling back to land rather ungracefully on his back and tail, fighting to avoid spilling water all over himself. Biting back a curse at having sat on his own tail, he shifted to pull it free. Checking it for damage, while unnecessary, provided him with a distraction. For all of thirty seconds. He debated saying something again but found himself for once at a loss for words as the wonderful smell of the cooking meal flooded through him. It was almost ethereal and Nick felt like he might even be able to survive off the scent alone.

Nick closed his eyes and breathed in deeply through his nose, smiling at the memories the scent brought. Life was simpler, easier, back then. School was a bit annoying but he had his mum. It hadn't been all sunshine and rainbows but he couldn't help but feel as though the good outweighed the bad. There were tough times, it was true, but there were also simple pleasures that meant so much in hindsight.

He smiled unconsciously as there was a clatter by the barbecue. Simple pleasures like eating his favourite food with his mum and snuggling up with her to watch a movie. The unbearably enticing scent of the food was getting stronger; Judy must be bringing it over. He opened his eyes, finding them prickling slightly, and looked up to Judy as she stopped in front of him and held out a plate. He took it in a shaking paw and the offered cutlery in the other then placed the dish in his lap, still hardly able to believe what was in front of him.

Judy returned with a plate for herself and sat down beside him, careful not to jostle him or the plate on his lap. He turned to look at her, opening his mouth, trying to find the words to thank her properly.

She smiled. "Eat up, Slick."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Despite her outer confidence, Judy watched nervously as Nick wordlessly peeled away a chunk of his salmon. Although it was nicely crisped on the outside, she hadn't wanted to ruin the appearance of the dish by cutting it open to make sure it was cooked through. It did still look a little, well, _juicy_ inside, but none of it was the same colour or texture as the raw fish had been so she supposed it was fine.

Nick lifted the fish to his mouth, his nose visibly twitching as he licked his lips. Then in a flash of pointy teeth it was gone. His eyes closed and she could practically feel him savouring the food as he chewed slowly, working his long jaw in what she was sure was an exaggerated motion. He exhaled heavily through his nose as he chewed, then swallowed.

"Fluff," he said quietly, looking right at her. "That's the most delicious thing I've had in years."

"Really?" She couldn't help the nervousness in her tone.

"Really." He reached out, putting his arm around her and pulling her into a side-hug. She relaxed into it, fighting the urge to go completely limp - and face-plant into his plate - at the spontaneous display of affection. The genuine smile he gave her might have had something to do with that too.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna completely ignore you for the next five minutes."

She reluctantly pulled herself away from him as he lifted his arm off her and then had to stifle a giggle at how voraciously he tore into his food. Cooking salmon had been an... interesting experience but the smell wasn't as bad as she'd feared it might be. The rest of it was fairly safe stuff - sweetcorn on the cob and a bell peppers stuffed with mixed vegetable fried rice - but adapting everything to work on the barbecue had been a challenge.

Tucking into her own food - the same as his minus the fish - she found herself unwilling to break the comfortable quiet of their meal. Not only did Nick's evident enjoyment of her cooking make her feel strangely content, but she quickly found herself considering that this might be a new favourite. They'd only ever had one or two barbecues growing up as many rabbit-friendly dishes - at least traditional ones - weren't well-suited to open-flame grilling.

Biting into her sweetcorn however, she found herself wanting to experiment a little more: the flames had added an interesting tangyness to the old staple and the texture was subtly different. The pepper too, was curiously different. Normally thoroughly softened by baking, it now held a little more crispness, though it was patchy, with soft but tastily scorched areas mixing freely with harder sections. In contrast, the relative uniformity of the rice seemed a little bland now while she was used to it being the main attraction.

Hearing a clink from him, she glanced over at Nick as he let out a contented sigh and placed his plate down on the roof beside him. He sank back onto his elbows and returned her smile.

"That was wonderful, Carrots."

A little thrill ran through her at his praise.

"Are you sure? I've never done any of this on a barbecue before-" She stopped herself as he pointedly raised an eyebrow. "Sweetcorn's easy," she explained, "but the peppers are supposed to be baked and the fish..." She shrugged, almost embarrassed at how she was rambling. Glancing down, she promptly shoved a large fork-full of rice into her mouth to keep herself from continuing.

_How_ dignified _,_ she sniffed to herself, trying not to choke.

If Nick noticed, he didn't say anything. Eventually she managed to swallow and risked a glance at him. The fox was still laying back contentedly, supporting his weight on his elbows, a small smile curving the corners of his mouth as he gazed up at the sky. A sudden urge to capture the scene swept through her and before she quite realised it, she'd snagged the last of her pepper and pulled her phone out. Nick turned towards her a moment later and she made a show of rolling her eyes and tapping away as if reply to a text before tucking the phone away.

_Did he notice?_ Her heart was suddenly pattering away for some reason.

"So what brought this on, Fluff?"

"I-" she hesitated, unsure of herself. "You've been a bit... distant, I guess, all week." She raised a paw before he could protest. "I know, I know, nothing gets to you." She looked at him sadly, ears drooping. "I just wanted to take your mind off things," she finished lamely, waving a paw in front of her.

A large paw landed gently on her shoulder and she turned reluctantly to face the fox. A squeak of surprise left her as she was pulled into a full hug but she reciprocated quickly, all but enveloped by her partner.

_So warm..._ she mused idly.

"Thank you, Judy."

A tingle raced up and down her spine. While the words were nothing special, Nick's sincere, unguarded tone was an unusual one for the snarky fox. The tickle of air as he practically whispered the words into her ear had nothing to do with it. She patted his back and reluctantly pulled away.

"You're welcome, Nick. Now, go pick a film," she ordered, pointing over at the shaded nook where her laptop and a pile of DVDs lay.

"A film?" he asked, confusion as clear in his voice as in the set of his ears.

"Uh huh," she said with nod. "You're gonna spend the rest of the day relaxing with your best friend and some films!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Best?"

"Augh!" she cried, slapping a paw to her chest and collapsing back onto the mattress. " _Savage_ fox." Her head tipped to one side and she allowed her tongue to loll out, crossing her eyes.

Nick chuckled. "Alright, alright! Best," he said confidently.

She grinned, hopping to her feet. "Good fox," she said, patting the side of his muzzle before gathering their plates. Nick moved to help her but she waved him off. "Ack! I said go pick a film."

He saluted sloppily, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "Yes, ma'am."

Judy grinned. She knew he was up to something but that twinkle... That twinkle was what had been missing for the last week. That twinkle meant trouble, but it meant her fox was coming back.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nick woke up to the sound of two unfamiliar voices arguing loudly. It took him a moment to process the words as he lay still, trying half-heartedly to work out how he could feel stiff and uncomfortable but absolutely content and unwilling to move.

"Where's the remote gone?" a voice called.

He was answered by a groan. "I don't-" There was a pause and a shuffling sound followed by a sigh. "Over there."

There was a grunt, more shuffling and the creaking of bedsprings.

Nick opened his eyes, suddenly realising what he was hearing. There was some quieter talking coming through the wall now - possibly a TV? He blushed as he heard another groan.

"Turn it off!"

He didn't have a problem with anything like that, he just wasn't comfortable - or used to - having a front-row seat.

"I said turn it off!"

"Fine."

There was a huff, some more creaking and then quiet.

Nick frowned. Something was off about this.

_Since when do my neighbours-_ His eyes widened sharply. _Since when do I_ have _neighbours‽_

For all he should have been freaked out by finding himself in someone else's home, he found he was just too content to get truly worked up.

The rumble of a boiling kettle reached through the wall next and he shook his head, trying to make sense of it. Biting back a groan of his own at the stiffness the motion revealed, he started to think about getting up before freezing as he heard a muted mumble from this side of the wall, followed by _movement against his front_.

Suddenly _very_ awake, Nick slowly tipped his muzzle down, praying he was imagining things.

There was a tiny grey ball of fluff curled up against his chest.

Nick stopped breathing.

He was curled around her too.

Then his brain finished booting up and the memories of yesterday fell into place in a rush of relief.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Judy had laid out a broad selection of cheery, upbeat movies, he saw. Among them was a selection of kits' films. He held one up.

"Really, Carrots?"

She shrugged, not looking at him. "I wanted something fun and light-hearted," she explained. "Plus, I spoke to your mum, remember?"

He grunted, not really surprised after how his mum had disclosed a childhood favourite food.

"Made up your mind then, Slick?" Judy asked, turning her head to look over her shoulder at him. The sun reflecting off a building behind her limned her grey fur in gold and there was a happy sparkle in her eyes.

His mouth suddenly dry for some reason, Nick nodded mutely, holding up the same DVD case as he had a few moments before.

Judy chuckled. "You're not picking that one just to annoy the police bun, are you?"

Nick threw on a smirk with practised ease. "Madam, how dare you make such a suggestion!" he blustered. "I value my own hide far too highly to every dream of poking fun at someone so astonishingly _cute_."

He chuckled and held up his paws as Judy glared at him, pointing a fork right at his face. She turned away after a moment and went to grab some drinks from the cool box. "Just this once, fox," she said threateningly. "You do that again and I'll see you in the ring."

They'd settled down comfortably enough onto the mattress and pillows as the old, animated 'Robin Hood' played on Judy's equally ancient laptop. Nick was transfixed, vague memories of watching the same film in his childhood filling him with a warm feeling of nostalgia. They hadn't spoken much - just a few laughs and snarky comments at the action - simply enjoying the film together without any need to force a conversation about it.

When it was finished, Judy stood up and chirped, "My turn!" She swapped the disc out for another, carefully hiding the box from him. He'd rolled his eyes, letting her have her mystery. Less than a minute later as the film proper began to play he grinned, waiting for the right moment. Then the title was shown across the whole screen. He grinned and opened his mouth, only to find a pair of small paws pulling his jaws shut once more. He looked down, raising an eyebrow and thought the insides of Judy's ears might be a little pinker than usual.

"Sush."

He nodded and she released him, pulling back from where she'd been practically leaning on him to reach his muzzle.

Two hours later, helping her carry the mattress back downstairs, he couldn't help but needle her. "I mean, really, Carrots? A dragon the size of a mouse killing a lion that big with _one_ firework?"

She huffed, equal parts in irritation and from trying to manoeuvre the past a corner in the stairwell. "It's a _dragon_ , Nick. They're magic. And it's a kits' film."

He grunted as she dropped her side of the mattress without warning to open the door to her floor. They left the mattress standing up outside her door before returning to the roof to collect the rest of her stuff.

Judy looked nervously at the dark clouds now above them. "Slick, can you grab the films and laptop?"

He nodded, hurrying over and collecting the items while she went for the crockery.

When they reached her floor again, Judy placed the items she was carrying down and waved him on. "Can you take all this stuff over to my room?" she asked. "I'll go grab the cool box."

It was all he could do not to chuckle as a dripping bunny stomped down the hall a couple of minutes later. "Go for a swim, Fluff?"

She glared at him but it lacked any real heat. "Impossible fox," she muttered, shaking her head.

He waited outside with the mattress while she slipped into her apartment to get changed. The door creaked open and he pushed off the mattress, turning lazily to face her. "Hey-" He choked on the words as he saw much more grey fur than he'd been prepared for. Looking again though, he realised what he was seeing.

"You okay, Slick?"

He nodded. "Yeah, sure, sorry." He waved limply at her. "Just, grey on grey. I thought..." he trailed off, embarrassed.

She put a paw on her hip and looked at him pointedly. "I thought I was the rabbit in this partnership."

"Huh? I mean- Yeah, you are-"

"Males." She rolled her eyes. "Come on, help me get this stuff inside."

Embarrassed - and relieved that she wasn't upset with him - Nick nodded and decided to help quietly. Hefting the mattress, they carefully negotiated the narrow doorway. Nick couldn't see much more than the section of mattress right in front of him until they were at her bed, and then he was too busy not dropping it on her to look around. Once it was in place he had a chance to look around. "You live here?" He turned to see Judy shrug.

"It's just somewhere to sleep. I don't spend much time inside." She lifted a paw to rub her arm.

There was something in her tone... Nick realised how he'd sounded and his face fell. _So much for staying quiet. Not to mention I'm in no position to judge._ Crossing over to her - all of a step and a half - he gently tipped her head back so she had to look at him. "I'm sorry. If it's enough for you then it's fine. I didn't mean-"

He was cut off as she hugged him again, squeezing tightly for a moment before letting go and turning back to the door.

"Why no action films, miss police bun?" he asked as they worked.

Judy shrugged. "I didn't think violence was the best way to cheer you up."

"No rom-coms?"

She looked at him askance. "Really?"

He grinned. "Twilight? Fifty-" He stopped as she glared at him.

"A good horror?" he asked innocently as she turned away.

Judy froze, then to his astonishment, _shivered_. "No," she said in a small voice.

"Now you have me curious, Fluff."

"I just don't like horror films," she said quickly.

Nick frowned, not liking the faint tremble in her voice. Deciding to lighten the mood, he grabbed her waist, ignoring her adorable squeak of surprise as he hopped back onto her bed and set her down in front of him.

"Nick!" she squawked.

He ignored her protest, gently pulling her ears up. "But you'd be perfect for hiding behind during the scary parts, Fluff!"

She shivered again then reached out and grabbed his tail. Ignoring his yip, she pulled it up against her front. "If you hide behind my ears then I'm hiding behind your tail!" she announced.

They'd messed around for another few minutes before she'd persuaded him to stay for another film, pointing out that he should at least wait until the rain stopped before leaving. They'd ended up ordering pizza too, which he insisted on paying for.

With the film and food finished, Nick tried to muster the energy to leave. "I should go, Fluff."

Judy sighed and wiggled against him. "You're too comfy. Stay for another?"

He chuckled and stroked her ears, which lay flat along her back, marvelling at their softness. "I shouldn't."

"Please? I don't want to move."

He sighed dramatically. "If you insist."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That had led to her falling asleep against him - in the middle of 'Beauty and the Beast', no less - leaving him to figure out how to escape without waking her. He recalled trying to move a few times, only to have a small paw latch on to him.

 _I guess the whole 'escape' part of that plan_ really _worked well then, didn't it?_ he snarked to himself. He'd obviously drifted off after that, probably leaning back against the wall to start with and sliding sideways down it later.

Glancing up he saw the laptop - now dark and silent - on the table where it had been left yesterday. He couldn't see much else from his position - not that there was much else _to_ see - and was debating the merits of trying to escape from Judy again when she stirred.

He swallowed nervously, hoping she wouldn't react badly to _finding a fox in her bed_. He watched, frozen as she uncurled slowly and stretched languorously, only his nerves over her reaction preventing him from making a comment about how adorable the sight was.

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Judy woke to a pleasant warmth and deep sense of contentment. She didn't usually sleep curled up like this but found she wasn't stiff at all as she slowly uncurled, stretching out fully. Her eyes snapped open as she felt a slight breeze on one foot and her head jerked down.

Nick was staring at her wide-eyed, her foot an inch from his muzzle. She pulled back sharply and he flinched, obviously expecting a kick.

"Hey, calm down, Slick," she soothed. "I guess we both fell asleep, huh?"

He nodded frantically. "Judy, I swear, I-"

She tapped his chest with her foot. "Shh. It's okay." She patted his tail, giggling as the tip flicked away off the edge of the bed. Pushing the rest of the fluffy appendage away, she sat up, letting her feet dangle off the side of the bed. Slightly self-consciously she tugged her t-shirt firmly down. It hadn't ridden up far enough to give Nick a view of anything apart from a bit of her lower back, but still.

Glancing his way, she saw him firmly not looking at her. "Come on, up you get."

His eyes flicked back to her and, apparently satisfied, he head followed a second later. "You sure you're not mad at me?"

She scoffed. "Yes, Nick, it's fine." Grinning cheekily, she decided to tease him a little. "In fact, I may have to invest in a fox. Turns out you're super comfy to sleep on!" Grinning at the stupefied look on his face, she was about to continue when the wall interrupted.

"Did she say she was sleeping on a fox‽"

Huffing in exasperation as Pronk replied with an equally unsubtle "Shut up!", she rapped her knuckles sharply on the thin wall. "That's enough you two. We fell asleep watching movies, that's all. You'd have heard anything else."

Silence answered her so she nodded, satisfied those two had been dealt with - for now, anyway - and turned back to Nick. His ears were back and his eyes wide. She opened her mouth and lifted a paw then sighed, closing her mouth with a shake of her head and hopping out of bed.

"Carrots." Nick paused, waiting for her to turn back to him. "Why are you being so calm about this? You woke up with a random fox in your bed-"

She cut him off with a wave of her paw. "Oh sush," she scolded. "You're not some random fox, you're my partner and best friend. And I invited you here yesterday, then asked you to stay for more films. We fell asleep. That's all. It's not like you're some creep who got me blackout drunk then talked his way into an orgy with half the females in my family."

She couldn't help but giggle at the look on Nick's face.

"Has- Has that ever...?"

She shook her head. "No. Well, not the orgy part. I'm sure some of my siblings have gotten blackout drunk and I _know_ lots of them have had one-night stands."

He looked at her for a while, then nodded and slowly sat up. He twisted this way and that, trying to work out the kinks in his back from sleeping in a strange position.

Judy found she couldn't take her eyes off him. The way he moved was so different from a bunny: controlled, graceful, _predatory_ power instead of soft, gentle fluffiness. He yawned, showing off teeth that were so different from any rabbit's that she found herself intrigued. Slightly dazed, she watched as he shook himself, small tufts of fur waving cinematically. A light flutter of warmth bloomed in her belly as she realised she was alone _in her bedroom_ , with a _good-looking male_.

_Damn it! Stop being such a bunny!_ she scolded herself, whirling away. She hurriedly crossed to her desk and picked up a brush. Suddenly the room felt somewhat cramped and she wished she could open the window properly. The scent of fox, of _Nick_ , was all around her and she knew she needed to get away before she did something stupid or embarrassing or both.

Turning, she tossed the brush at Nick. It caught him in the chest, eliciting a slight huff. He collected it and looked questioningly at her. "You, ah, might want to tidy up a bit," she suggested, gesturing at her own arms and neck. "I'll be back in a bit."

She scurried out of the room and down the hall towards the communal bathroom. Once there was a locked door safely between them she sighed heavily, slumping against the door and biting her lip as she struggled not to give in to the urge to ease some of the tension that had ambushed her. Crossing to the sink, she splashed cold water over her face and arms. _What do you think would happen, you silly rabbit? You make a joke about orgies then you throw yourself at him. What could_ possibly _go wrong with that, huh?_

Of course, if Nick were a rabbit, he'd understand. She sighed and rubbed her face. "Not helping," she muttered. _Would I? If he was a rabbit?_ She growled to herself, splashing more cold water on her face. "Not. _Helping_."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nick noticed the change in Judy's posture as soon as he looked back at her. Gone was the confident, carefree rabbit who'd woken up. She was nervous about something.

"You, ah, might want to tidy up a bit," she said, waving at herself.

He nodded and watched as she slipped out the door. As the door moved it disturbed the air and he caught a faint whiff of something. He couldn't put a finger on it; it wasn't something he was familiar with. Sweet with a hint of muskiness underneath. His nose twitched as he breathed deeply, trying to get another pull of it. Something about it intrigued him. There wasn't enough of it though, and he found no further hints. Sighing, he set to brushing himself out.

Judy returned a few minutes later, the fur on her face and arms a little damp. "You okay?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yeah. Didn't think you'd want to wait around while I had a shower so I just freshened up a bit."

"So what's the plan now, Fluff? Am I finally allowed to leave?"

She looked him over then shook her head. "Nope."

He frowned at her but she just smiled and pointed at her own neck. Nick raised a paw and felt the tuft of fur sticking out nearly at right angles to the rest of his coat. Grumbling softly he raised the brush and began to work at the clump. The trouble with a rabbit brush was that it was intended for finer fur than foxes had so it was hard going, constantly snagging and catching. Eventually he managed to get the unruly clump to lay mostly flat and held the brush out to Judy.

She took it with a sigh. "It wouldn't kill you to look smart, you know."

"It might," he responded immediately. "Why take the chance when I'm comfortable like this?"

She shook her head but didn't reply.

"So am I allowed to go _now_?"

"Yes, yes you are."

He smiled and walked towards the door. He stopped just before he reached it though, turning back to her. "Judy?" She looked up at him. "Thank you," he said sincerely. "I had a great time. I owe you for that."

"You're welcome, Slick," she replied tenderly. "But you don't owe me anything. Remember what you did for me at New Year?"

He nodded. "A sandwich for dinner and a nice view. You did a heck of a lot more yesterday, Carrots."

She shook her head. "I was just trying to be a good friend."

"And you were. But if we call the movie night payback for New Year, I still owe you for that fantastic meal."

"The pizza?" she asked impishly. "But you already paid for that."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm serious, Fluff. And not about the pizza."

"Oh come on," she protested. "It's like, half a favour, tops."

"You can't do that, Carrots. Favours are favours. There are no halves or quarters."

She looked at him. "I'm not going to win this argument, am I?"

He grinned. "Nope!"

"Fine. You owe me a favour."

"Indeed! One complete Nick Wilde favour," he proclaimed, doing his best impression of a carnival worker. "The full package, at your disposal, whatever you need." Seeing the sly grin appearing on Judy's face, he hastily added, "Terms and conditions and exclusions apply!"

She pouted, then laughed, which he joined in after a moment. "Alright, Slick, have a good day. See you tomorrow, yeah?"

"You got it, Carrots." He winked. "Take it easy, rabbit."

She snorted and waved him out.

Nick sauntered out of the building and began to head home. He felt so much lighter than he had for the last few days it was incredible. 'Never let them see that they get to you' was a good strategy - he'd survived for a long time thanks to it. _That rabbit though..._ His thoughts slipped back to how she'd looked curled up against him; how she'd stretched, showing off her incredibly fit body. He remembered the feeling of her ears beneath his fingers from last night, how the softness contrasted with her physical strength and iron will.

Smiling happily as he walked along, he basked in a surge of affection. No matter what, she had his back. Every time the world tried to stamp him down, she was there, shoving the world back and helping him back to his feet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So after all the dead bodies and grumpy foxes, how was that injection of fluff? I hope I didn't overdo it but I think a everyone deserved a little light - especially with what's coming.


End file.
